A night at Latin America’s biggest cemetery

Brazil is a far cry from controlling its coronavirus spread. Health networks are constantly facing the risk of collapse, and funeral services are simply unable to cope with the sheer demand for burials. As The Brazilian Report covered earlier this month, many cemeteries were forced to suspend services as they hit full capacity. Space, however, is not an issue in São Paulo’s Vila Formosa cemetery. It is the largest in Latin America — expanding over 750,000 square meters, it is the fourth-largest green space in São Paulo — and instead of halting burials, it is digging new graves around the clock.

I visited the necropolis for a photo essay, attracted by the raw and visual beauty of this mass of red earth, housing countless mortal remains. That evening, I planned to arrive at twilight, the so-called “blue hour,” when the city is draped in a sapphire robe. Approaching the cemetery, my GPS app led me to Vila Formosa’s second entrance — until then unknown to me — just as the guard was...