A master at softening surfaces, Mario Cravo Neto expands the physical hardness of the light of Salvador through the filter of spiritual sweetness that animates the city. Her incisive sea horizon, rough masonry, bright rocks and outlandish figures - the hyperbolic marvels of Bahia - are seemingly cloaked in invisible mist, tamed so we can come closer to their strident truth. Because here he have seen everything and everyone subjectively, from within, before viewing them through a lens.
The documental and poetic value of his work lies in his ability to shed spirit on matter; not only through his choices of scenes and subjects -choices that are also imbued with poetry and knowledge - but mainly through the alchemy he works on the quality of that matter. The fact is, no one else but he could create such a dazzling, enlightening book on the City of Salvador. We can feel how he lovingly touches each wall, each grain of sand, each wrinkle, each mind in this city: all is caressed by his serene expectation of light.
When viewing the images Mariozinho composes of visible and invisible facets of Salvador, we Bahians feel more beautiful - saved - and foreigners learn better to behold, understand and forgive us.

Caetano Veloso