Cazalis is an MFA from Parsons School of Design. Since 1994, he has been using documentary photography to create public awareness on social, economic and political issues around the world. From 1994-96 he worked for the local paper El Economista in Mexico City and then with AFP until 1999. In 2001 he went freelance taking international assignments in Venezuela, the Ukraine, Haiti and then moved to Brazil in 2005. Since then he has embarked on a long-term project entitled The Urban Meta, focusing on the sustainability of mega-cities, a human phenomena climaxing into the XXI century. For the past eight years he has documented habitat, segregation, uncontrolled growth, pollution, overpopulation and water management in cities with over 15 million like Sao Paulo, Cairo, Dhaka, Tehran, Osaka, Mexico City and Lagos. In 2010 he made his first film, Year Zero, built entirely with still images on post Earthquake Haiti spanning 18 months. He completed his first book, Occupy Sao Paulo, in 2013 and will publish his second, Blood of Kings, on the performance art of bullfighting in Spain.
Cazalis’ work has been published by leading magazines worldwide including Foto 8, the Guardian Weekend, Le Figaro, Le Monde and Polka magazine where he has exhibited twice since its inception, L’Espresso, Walrus magazine, The New York Times, National Geographic Magazine and Asahi magazine in Japan. His urban work has formed part of the United Nations UN-Habitat program, and has been exhibited in Bangladesh, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, France, Holland, Japan, Mexico, Russia and the United States in leading photo festivals such as Visa pour L’Image, CONTACT, Chobi Mela, Foto Septiembre and Noorderlicht.
He has given workshops and lectures on documentary photography in São Paulo, Mexico City, Sevilla, Dhaka, New York and Toronto.
