In 1940, 25-year-old Genevieve Naylor, who had recently become one of the first female photographers hired by the Associated Press, received an assignment from the U.S. State Department to travel to Brazil.

With the war between the Axis and Allied powers expanding into a truly global conflict, the State Department’s Office of Inter-American Affairs was tasked with cultivating South American support for the Allies. Naylor was sent to capture the images to illustrate the propaganda campaign and conjure wartime support from Brazil and adjacent countries.

Upon arriving in Rio, however, the curious and artistic Naylor chafed at the constraints of her dull assignments. She struck out beyond the city's swanky and fashionable shopping districts and beaches and looked to capture a broader, richer portrait of the country than the prescribed symbols of progress and development the campaign required.

Though constrained by film and equipment shortages, the restrictions of the Vargas dictatorship and her agency’s instructions, Naylor documented the rich, the professional classes, rural peasants, street performers, Carnival dancers, beggars, fishermen and more, ultimately creating a body of work that far exceeded the boundaries of her government mandate.

When Naylor returned to the United States, her photographs were the subject of a historic one-woman show at the Museum of Modern Art. She went on to become a prolific fashion photographer for magazines such as Harper’s Bazaar and Vogue.