Lázaro Roberto (1954) is a photographer and art educator known as “LENTE NEGRA,” who entered the world of photography in the 1970s. In 1990, he co-founded Zumví Arquivo Fotográfico, an association of Black photographers that remains active today. In 1992, he produced the exhibition O negro e o seu trabalho at Feira de Água de Meninos, now Feira de São Joaquim, which was later shown in Recife in 1995; and in 2018 he held the exhibition Memórias de Resistências Negras at Mafro-BA, which was revisited in a digital version in 2021. That same year, he published a commemorative catalog celebrating the 30th anniversary of Zumví and created a video mapping project featuring photographs from Nelson Mandela’s visit to Salvador. The artist has been photographing marches and walks against religious intolerance in the capital of Bahia.

He has participated in festivals such as the Festival Internacional da Imagem do Valongo, São Paulo (2018); Festival Internacional de Fotografia de Porto Alegre (2019); and Festival Transatlântico de Fotografia, Instituto Mario Cravo Neto, Salvador (2019). His work has been featured in exhibitions such as Carolina Maria de Jesus, um Brasil para os brasileiros, Instituto Moreira Salles (2021); Um Defeito de Cor, Museu de Arte do Rio (2022); and Dos Brasis, Sesc Belenzinho (2023), among others. In addition, Lázaro Roberto was selected, together with Zumví Arquivo Fotográfico, for the 35th Bienal de Arte de São Paulo and previously took part in Frestas – Trienal de Artes, SESC Sorocaba (2020–21). His recognition extends far beyond Brazil, with his photographs included in collections such as those of the Art Institute of Chicago and the University of Texas.

Afoxé Korin Éfan parading at the 2019 carnival (2019) documents the Salvador-based bloco that the artist has been following for over 30 years. The work is connected to the international campaign Black Lives Matter, a movement that emerged in the United States in 2013 to fight against violence and systemic racial discrimination faced by Black people.