Lamia Maria Abillama was born to Lebanese-Brazilian parents and trained as a lawyer in Paris and Boston before moving to New York to study at the International Center for Photography in 2005. There she started a series of portraits inspired by her Brazilian grandmother, depicting the world of society ladies in Rio de Janeiro. “Seeing my grandmother sitting in the dining room with her maid was a turning point,” she says. “I could see the inequality and class division, and I knew I had to pursue this as a project.”

The portraits that make up The Ladies of Rio are precisely composed, yet naturalistic, and show often exquisitely dressed upper-class women sitting in their luxurious homes, sheltered from the violence and poverty outside. Aged from 70 to 103, many of the women were introduced to Abillama by her grandmother, and she photographs them with respect. “I didn’t want to turn the ladies into caricatures,” she says. “There is no irony.”

Abillama hopes to finish and publish the series this year, but it has already led to several high-profile portrait assignments from publications such as New York magazine, Fortune and The New York Times Magazine, and has been shown at Paris Photo and Fotofest Houston, along with another major project called Clashing Realities, which looks at the lives of Lebanese women in a country plagued by war. Abillama’s work has also been recognised by several international awards, including the Lucies in 2009.

The photographer was recommended to BJP by Stephen Mayes, director of VII Photo, who describes her work as “stunning examples of poised and profound portraiture produced in a framework that reveals as much about the photographer as the sitters”.
“Considered, strong, confident and purposeful are words that apply,” he adds, “to the photographs, the photographed and the photographer.”

Visit www.lamiaabillama.com.

Image © Lamia Maria Abillama.