S.M.I.L.E-ing Boys in Maré, from Kay Rufai, premiers at the inaugural Boys & Men Festival in Rio de Janeiro, a one-day free public celebration dedicated to advancing gender equality as part of first MenCare Changemaker Summit
On Friday 29 May 2026, award-winning British-Nigerian artist Kay Rufai will premier a new photography exhibition dismantling damaging stereotypes of Black boys and men in Rio’s favelas – by showing them smiling. In collaboration with Brazilian artists Math de Araújo and Diego Reis, Rufai placed the camera into the hands of young Black men and boys in Rio’s largest favela complex to collectively create a work of visual resistance, capturing the boys’ own worlds, moments of friendship, and everyday life on their own terms.
S.M.I.L.E-ing Boys, now arriving in Brazil for the first time, is an international project led by Rufai for over a decade expanding across London and Los Angeles. S.M.I.L.E-ing Boys in Maré, a never-before-seen photography exhibition, is part of a global story about Black boyhood, masculinity, state violence, healing, and the power of counter-stereotypical imagery across the Black diaspora.
S.M.I.L.E-ing Boys in Maré, depicting the smiling faces of young Black and boys from Rio’s Maréfavela, exists in direct opposition to narratives of violence and dehumanisation which can often frame favela communities. By presenting Black boys from Maré through tenderness, vulnerability, and care, the exhibition is imbued with humanity, challenging harmful racialised stereotypes and centring Black joy. Smiling becomes an act of resistance.
Kay Rufai says; “I wanted to create images that refuse the limited ways Black boys are so often seen. In Maré, despite the realities these young people are navigating, I encountered tenderness, humour, imagination, care and deep joy. This work asks what happens when Black boys are centred not through trauma, but through their humanity. Smiling, in this context, becomes far more than expression — it becomes resistance.”
In a context shaped by inequalities and forms of violence that permeate everyday life in Rio’s favelas, this exhibition emerges as an interruption: a moment to breathe. A space where art becomes a tool for care, listening and transformation, and a tool to promote conversations about race, positive masculinity, well-being, activism, and joy as a form of resistance among black boys living in the community.
Over several weeks in autumn 2025, through a research-informed creative programme Rufai, alongsideAraújo and Reis, worked with twenty 13 to 18-year-old young Black men and boys from Maré. They collectively created a space for their expression through art; combining photography, poetry, reflection, and storytelling.
The workshops took place in the immediate aftermath of the deadliest police operation in Rio’s history, where more than 130 people were killed in a neighbouring favela – events which directly impacted many of the boys and people involved in the project, who face targeting under state surveillance. The exhibition arrives at a time when, internationally, Black men and boys face limitations as a result of dehumanising racialised narratives and limited ideas of masculinities, and are at increased risk of state sanctioned violence. For these young Black men and boys, the simple act of smiling is imbued with impact and power. And it’s a representation of Black men and boys we are still not used to seeing, full of vulnerability and joy.
Watch Ray, 18-year-old S.M.I.L.E-ing Boys in Maré participant, talk about the crucial impact of the project in the aftermath of the deadly police operation which affected him and his community.
S.M.I.L.E-ing Boys in Maré will be premiered at the inaugural MenCare Changemaker Summit, a four-day global convening to advance caring manhood and gender equality in Rio de Janeiro produced by Equimundo: Centre for Masculinities and Social Justice and WOW – Women of the World (27 to 30 May 2026). Rufai will debut this work at the Boys & Men Festival, taking place on day three of the Summit, Friday 29 May, as part of a vibrant programme of conversation, art, performance, and live music to exploring themes of masculinity, care, and solutions to gender-based violence as part of this free public event.
