JR Art

I recently received an email from my friend Steph and was happy that she shared an artist, a French Photographer, she found who created some work in Rio. The project was apart of a series of photographs he took in Favela da Providencia-the first favela in Rio de Janeiro. The project consisted images in which the photographer captured the facial expressions of women whose lives are infested with crime, a violent loss of loved ones and arbitary repression as apart of everyday life.

I am most impressed with the artist's intent to create work that engages the community and becomes apart of the space rather than exploiting the community which I think sometimes happens with photography. Why simply just take a photograph when you could use it in such a way those around you are involved? It makes so much more sense. The amazing thing is these structures his photographs are placed on become small components included in the "grand picture" which is inevitably the homes inside this community ad things going on around them. The colors and textures just add to it making it cohesive and creating a face to the favela.

His website has lots of great photos from the project as well as an impressive list of other pieces he worked on, all of which were not funded by anyone but created simply for his own desire.

When I was visiting Rio, I had really wanted to visit one of the favelas and actually didn't live too far from Rochina which is one of the largest in Rio. I drove by it every time I took the bus or a cab from Barra into the city and every time it was mesmorizing to just drive by this hill side that was just full of all these bright colors and seemed almost impossible that people lived in these stacked shacks and at night they like stars in the night sky, any many ways I found it beautiful. I just loved it and in some ways feel the same way about buildings throughout Baltimore. I was at a discussion group about Baltimore vacant lots a few months ago and someone brought up the fact that these spaces are often times bitter sweet because we are drawn to these decaying structures and how there is something about them that is asthetically pleasing but at the same times they aren't always benifiting the community. I guess this applies more to spaces in Baltimore more so than the favelas in Rio but either way, when he said that I had an "AH HA" moment because that was exactly my own thoughts. I think there are solutions to these vacant spaces that could prevent them from being demolished but instead refurbished into something new. That seems like the solution to me.

But back to the favelas...

They offer these tours where you can ride in jeeps like your on a safari in this "other place" and unfortunately people do it. I had wanted to visit a favela with a walking tour group where you meet people from the community and they have markets where they sell hand made things so you are actually supporting the community but unfortunately wasn't able to. My cousin Nalita was so confused as to why I would want to go visit the place and I didn't really know how to explain it because in some ways you are exploiting these people's community and lives. I think some of it was for asthetic reasons such as those I mentioned earlier. I think I was more fascinated by the means in which people are able to live and survive in relation to our culture which to some is considered decadent. I guess it all comes back to our consumption and how much less we could consume if we were just more concious of our actions.


On a separate note I had a wonderful time at the Carnaval party hosted by the Creative Alliance. Pictures and a post soon to come!!

Update

I'll be returning to Columbus after staying in Baltimore this past week. Baltimore has been really great and made me realize I want to be here for a bit. I actually think I might be back in a few weeks because there is an event going on that I really want to go to at this community center called the Creative Alliance. The event is called ¡VIVA BRASIL! and it is a Samba Dance Party! I thought it would be fun to attend with some of my friends from Baltimore and have our own little Carnival celebration here in the states.



On another note. My blog is way overdue for a post and once I get back into the swing of things back home, I hope to pick up where I left off. I also in the beginning states of designing my research book from my trip so I hope to start posting some pieces from that.

Obama Everywhere!

I recently subscribed to one of the many Google ad ons...Google Alerts. Google has taken over my life! I get daily updates about websites and articles that discuss Rio. This one came up this morning in my email and I thought it was particularly interesting because it touches on something that I witnessed a lot while I was in Brazil.



For the first month I was in Brazil before I really knew how to get around and felt comfortable, my cousin suggested I take a cab to get into the city. Unfortunately taking a cab back in forth became pretty expensive because I was traveling from Barra to Botafogo and with traffic it took awhile. Ended up being around 40 heis each way but this is really besides the point. During these trips often time little communication happened amongst me and the driver. Usually only a couple things were asked or discussed. One being who are you voting for..Obama or McCain and every time I would say Obama, they could cheer or give me thumbs up. It happened on practically every occasion in which I told someone I was an American.

There was one specific incident I wanted to share..I met this woman named Beth who is a relative of my cousin Katie's husband. She and I had an interesting discussion about the effects this election will have on our country. She was talking to me about the problems with their President Lula which I knew a little bit about but not much before visiting. There is a book that I have been meaning to read that was released recently in the US that tells the story of his life. It is called Lula of Brazil: The Story So Far From what I have read about the book, it is a positive look at what the president has a accomplished for the country but the majority of the people I talked to while I was in Brazil, about Lula, talked really negatively about the President so I am very interested in reading this book and sharing it with my friends in Brazil to get their opinion.

But back to Beth, she works for an American company based out of Baltimore, Maryland! which was crazy to hear and made me really excited to talk to her about what she thought of the city because I love it so much.

She also had a lot to say about Americans and the upcoming election.

It was always really hard to hear someone talk about people from your country, while I was in Brazil, because often times, or at least in my case, they had negative things to say about Americans and often times I think it is a little unfair. I mean I guess it is all relative to who you meet and what impressions you cast on someone. Sometimes that impression can become someones one stereotype of people from that area which really is unfortunate. We all are different. Beth however had a positive comment, she told me she thought Americans were the most hard working people she has ever met. That was really nice to hear and made me proud to be an American which commonly doesn't happen because sadly often times the negatives are highly more publicized.

She did however talk to me about her concerns about Obama becoming president. It was pretty intimidating. I guess for me because, here I was visiting another country and experiencing all this chaos my country was going through, through a television and newspaper and I guess for many Americans back home it could've been similar. Beth flat out told me, people who aren't from America typically don't like it. They don't like Americans. They are laughing at you right now because your country is falling apart. I didn't really know what to say. She doesn't have much confidence in Obama but I beg to differ. I think he offers something Americans need right now which is hope and with that we can bring change. I know that he has a lot of pressure on him and honestly I know it can't be all done but any change right now for the better is what we need. Optimisim is the key.