rafael pavarotti, the lens that shifts the gaze

You have almost certainly come across his work without knowing it. Behind the colour-saturated portraits of Rihanna or Beyoncé stands Rafael Pavarotti, a Brazilian photographer of Afro-Indigenous descent, born in Pará. His work is defined by the central place he gives to Black and Indigenous models, by male silhouettes that move away from the usual codes of masculinity, and by a colour-driven aesthetic inherited from fashion but reaching far beyond it.

Colour as inheritance

Following on from Kerry James Marshall, another artist places pigmentation at the heart of his work. Without realising it, you may have encountered it through photographs of Rihanna, A$AP Rocky or Beyoncé. First recognised in the world of fashion, Rafael Pavarotti has since established himself as a major figure of the contemporary image. From the New York Times to Vogue, his pictures stand out sharply for their vivid colours and their honed, almost painterly contours, bordering on the surreal.

Color has always been more than just pigments to me. It is an ancestor, a rhythm, a spirit, a memory.

Rafael Pavarotti — Acumen Magazine

Born in the state of Pará in the Amazon, his Brazilian roots occupy a central place in his approach. Pavarotti deliberately works with Black and Indigenous models to denounce their absence from the history of fashion. “As a Brazilian Afro-Indigenous photographer, celebrating the Black and Indigenous experience will always be part of my work, because it is also part of me,” he tells the British Journal of Photography.

In 2022, his commitment became openly political with the British Vogue cover titled As the World Turns, where he spotlighted a new generation of models such as Adut Akech and Anok Yai. The project follows in the footsteps of pioneers like Donyale Luna, Beverly Johnson and Naomi Campbell, and continues his collaborations with art directors such as Feben and Ib Kamara, heirs to Virgil Abloh.

Shifting the gaze on the body

Artistically, Pavarotti also stands apart in the way he approaches the male body, which he photographs androgynously. Taut silhouettes, direct gazes, restrained gestures mark a clean break with the heroic, hyper-masculine poses the fashion industry has accustomed us to.

In this exhibition, Pavarotti invites us to shift our gaze, making each photograph a space of reinvention rather than mere representation. It is this singular vision that allows him to move beyond fashion and establish himself lastingly in contemporary photography. And that is where the force of his gesture lies. Fashion is one of the most publicised, most watched industries in the world. Imposing other bodies, other gazes, other narratives within it means, in a way, striking where images travel fastest and furthest — well beyond clothing itself.

Rafael Pavarotti
Musée des Arts Décoratifs
2 October 2026 to 2 May 2027
Full price €18 · Concession €10 · Free under 26