Born of a desire to celebrate Brazilian creativity, Extinção? is a new zine from photographer Igor Furtado. A reaction to the lack of cultural institutions willing to support Latin American narratives, the publication showcases the talent of creatives from all over the country, featuring more than 80 emerging artists’ visual and written artworks. Focusing specifically on the climate emergency, Extinção? explores the ways in which the crisis ties in with the natural history of Brazil.
“In 2018, the National Museum of Brazil burned to the ground, causing the destruction of almost 20 million items, including portions of Luzia: the oldest human fossil to be ever discovered in the country,” Furtado tells Dazed. “Without the means necessary to preserve Brazilian memory, understanding our history will become even harder in the future, opening the way for new recessions.” Informed by this realisation, Extinção? is a “reflection on the ways of knowing that are allowed to prevail in today’s world,” according to the photographer.
The publication was developed during Furtado’s recent residency at Fabrica Research Centre, the Andy Warhol-inspired communication hub founded in Treviso by Luciano Benetton and examines the theme of extinction outside of its conventional interpretations. “Growing up, my perception of extinction was strictly bound to religious and scientific notions,” he explains. “With this zine, I wanted to broaden those perspectives embracing visions that exist beyond those binaries.”
Spanning photography, illustration, 3D art, performance, music, design and poetry, Extinção? “looks over Brazil’s past to reclaim its talents’ presence, prolificness, and autonomy.” And this mission is the driving force behind Furtado’s artistic practice. Already in 2020, the Rio de Janeiro-born photographer was shortlisted as one of the young creative pioneers of Regenerative Futures, a global United Nations initiative developed in partnership with Gucci and Irregular Labs, for his project Identidades Marginais, a digital archive exploring the legacy of different Brazilian artists.
In Extinção?, contributors explore the dichotomies of human experience – birth and death, hell and heaven, hope and despair – in a wake-up call for climate action. Photography and poetry, along with illustrations, remind us of the mass extinctions that the Earth has experienced so far, to help remind us about the impending one. “Images and words are ways of reflecting on the little time we have left,” reads the zine. “Ways to save what is needed.”
For Felipe Rocha, the Brazil-born, New York-based designer who translated Furtado’s vision into the zine’s powerful spreads, bringing people closer together may be another way of tackling the climate emergency. “To me, this project is about human connection,” he says. “Despite featuring contributions from artists that are far apart from each other, the zine is pervaded by an all-encompassing sense of community.” Furtado is very much on the same page as his collaborator: “Felipe and I have actually never met in person,” he says. “The virtual connections that made Extinção? possible are part of its beauty.”
Throughout the zine, written reflections by interdisciplinary artists Ventura Profana, Davi de Jesus do Nascimento, Aun Helden and Sabine Passareli are juxtaposed with bold, whimsical drawings, photographs, and collages all welcoming readers in a succession of imaginary dimensions. Elsewhere, abstract sculptural installations engage viewers in a play of contrasting sensations as 3D-generated landscapes proceed to immerse them in utopian, parallel worlds. 
Though the artworks inhabiting its spreads are charged with an otherwordly essence, the goal behind Extinção? is very much grounded in reality. “I hope brands and institutions will stop collecting culture and rather invest, preserve, and support our future projects,” says Furtado, who is already looking at ways to expand, print, and distribute a continuation of the zine. “I hope the existence of this book inspires the creation of many others… May this repository allow us to dream of other ends and help to protect some of the fantastic realities that surround and precede us.”

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