Zumví Afro Photographic Archive is a collective and visual documentation center founded in Salvador, Bahia, in 1990 by photographers and activists Lázaro Roberto, Aldemar Marques, and Raimundo Monteiro. Under the motto “photograph today for the future,” the collective embraced photography as a tool for historical documentation and political affirmation, with the mission of recording the present and preserving memory for future generations. Its name combines the word zoom, referring to the photographic lens, with the first-person verb “to see,” encapsulating a political gesture of aesthetic self-determination and the preservation of the historical memory of Black people.

Today managed by Lázaro Roberto alongside historian José Carlos Ferreira, the archive comprises more than 30,000 photographs and documents by several Black photographers, including Jônatas Conceição, Lúcio Flávio Guerreiro, Rogério Santos, and Geremias Mendes. By challenging hegemonic narratives within Brazilian photography, Zumví has established itself as a vital platform for dissemination, anti-racist education, and visual research, rejecting the folklorization and objectification of Black bodies. Its images document the activities of the Unified Black Movement (MNU), the emergence and strengthening of bloco afro and afoxé groups, African-derived religious practices, popular markets, and everyday life in Salvador’s peripheral neighborhoods.

Its works and archive have been featured in major institutional exhibitions and public collections in Brazil and abroad, including its participation in the 35th São Paulo Biennial, “Choreographies of the Impossible” (2023, São Paulo, Brazil), and the retrospective “Zumví Afro Photographic Archive” (2026, IMS Paulista, São Paulo, Brazil), curated by Hélio Menezes with assistance from Ariana Nuala, which brought together approximately 400 images from the archive.