Bodies lined the streets of a marginalised community after one of Brazil's deadliest police operations.
More than 120 people, the majority of them young Black men and boys, were killed during raids on two favelas in Rio de Janeiro.
About 2500 police were deployed to Complexo de Alemao and Penha on October 28, 2025, for the state-sanctioned drug trafficking operation.
A week later, an international artist entered a neighbouring favela.
British and Nigerian creative Kay Rufai visited Complexo da Mare to begin a project with 20 young Black males aged 13 to 18, coincidentally in the aftermath of the deadly raids.
He agreed to tell AAP his story.
"I gave them Polaroid cameras to go back into their demographic, their homes, to tell new stories of themselves, to show a version of themselves that the world doesn't see," Rufai said.
"When these massacres happen ... what they're not telling you is these are children, these are teenagers who, by proximity, are living in an environment where criminality does thrive.
"These children are collateral damage because their uncle might be the drug dealer.
"So this program was a space where these boys were able to be reaffirmed that you matter, and how you feel matters."
The smiling faces of the boys and young men of Mare lit up a main square in Rio de Janeiro over the last weekend of May, as Rufai showcased his exhibition, a display of visual resistance to racial stereotypes.
Mare, which is home to about 140,000 residents, is one of Rio de Janeiro's largest favelas - a term used to describe lower-income settlements that house a large percentage of Afro-Brazilians.
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Favelas were started after Brazil became the last country to abolish slavery in 1888, and the Afro-Brazilian population were denied reparations or access to formal housing.
Mare resident Ray Vinicius, 18, said he was heavily impacted by the October 2025 police operation in the neighbouring favelas.
"I wasn't among those bodies. I didn't know anyone personally. I didn't have any relatives there, but somehow I see myself in those bodies," he said.
"Maybe if I hadn't had guidance from my mother, my grandfather, my friends, I might have been there too."
He said Rufai's project was a way to portray his community, often in the media for violence and drugs, through a different lens.
"I think this project is very important because I see that many boys don't want to get involved in drug trafficking and they know it's not the right path," he said.
Rufai ran 11 sessions with the young men and said gaining their trust came faster than he expected, but getting them to open up and be vulnerable was a longer journey.
"What I felt was the palpable energy of what the collective community were feeling ... that those deaths were inconsequential. They were a by-product of the evil that exists here," he said.
"They couldn't believe that this foreign Black man, who's lived in America and London, wants to do a project in our favelas. Why are we worth that?
"They were really intrigued and curious about what is it that brought me here and how can they understand more about my experience as a Black man?"
Sharing his story with them and learning theirs opened the boys up to similarities within their collective experiences, he said.
"One of the biggest things about our program is really helping boys feel like you can say whatever you want but we can challenge your thoughts and provide you with the opportunity to critically think about it," Rufai said.
"And that's something that I felt these boys really needed, especially in the context of some of the stuff that happened just before we arrived."
He was most surprised to see the love and care that existed within favelas, an image not often portrayed outside.
"To see the daily care, the daily joy that exists in the favela and amongst criminality and guns and drugs," Rufai said.
"Seeing children dance under showered rain in the main street, just opposite a drug table with guns and cocaine. All of these things were just, like, slapping me in the face."
Australian-based chief executive of The Man Cave, Ben Vasiliou, toured Mare while visiting Rio de Janeiro for May's international MenCare Changemaker summit.
"When you see bullet holes everywhere and you see people walking around with guns ... it was fairly intense," he told AAP.
Community organisation Redes da Mare took the outsiders through the favela, which he said was made up of eight or nine communities, and they visited facilities including a children's theatre, library, and a homeless centre.
They then met Mare's first university graduates, who are now working to research and advocate for the rights of its residents.
"They've built a library, a community centre, schools, they're so active in trying to help break the chains of violence for the next generation," Vasiliou said.
"But also they've been able to work with the different militia groups on making sure that there's peace territories.
"The only thing that really unites all the different areas is the children and keeping them safe, and fighting the police."
AAP travelled to the MenCare conference with the assistance of the Minderoo Foundation.
