Christopher Anderson - Capitolio - 2009

Capitol is a cinematic journey through the shadows of Caracas, Venezuela, during the revolution. Following in the tradition of William Klein's New York and Magnum photographer Robert Frank's The Americans, Christopher Anderson creates an emotional portrait of a time and place that is about to explode. More than a didactic or journalistic approach, Anderson offers a poetic vision of a place where the violent and the sensual coexist.

The word Capitol refers to the domed building that houses a government. In this book, Caracas itself becomes a metaphorical Capitol. Instead of walls, we have rotten modernist architecture that has been built with petrodollars. It seems to suggest a time of opulence, but through the cracks a jungle opens up, revealing the decay occurring within. The streets act as substitute actors for the hallways of this building where human drama and political intrigue are brought to the stage.