{"id":18693,"date":"2014-10-17T18:32:49","date_gmt":"2014-10-17T21:32:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.rioonwatch.org\/?p=18693"},"modified":"2015-12-21T15:25:15","modified_gmt":"2015-12-21T18:25:15","slug":"residents-and-artists-paint-the-streets-of-mare-in-travessias-art-festival-slideshow","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/?p=18693","title":{"rendered":"Residents and Artists Paint the Streets of Mar\u00e9 in Travessias Art Festival [SLIDESHOW]"},"content":{"rendered":"

Clique aqui para Portugu\u00eas\"\"<\/em><\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

Residents of Complexo da Mar\u00e9<\/a>, graffiti artists and visitors painted the community’s walls with vibrant colors and graffiti art on\u00a0Saturday October 11. The event “Tudo de cor pra Mar\u00e9”<\/em>\u00a0(All colors for Mar\u00e9) is part of the annual\u00a0art festival\u00a0Travessias<\/a>, now in its third edition. Paint donated by Coral Paints was used to color the walls of the community with graffiti art, in an event that has previously taken place three times in Santa Marta<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The art festival Travessias celebrates the\u00a0encounter between visual contemporary art and public\u00a0spaces<\/a>. Organized by artist\u00a0Daniel Senise, the festival has brought photographers from Mar\u00e9 and artists from all over Brazil together to integrate\u00a0artistic creations of multiple media\u2013audio-visual, painting, installations, photography and artefacts.<\/p>\n

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Art on the streets of\u00a0Mar\u00e9<\/h3>\n

All Colors for Mar\u00e9 was carefully planned by Geisa\u00a0Lino,\u00a030, resident of Morro do Timbau<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0coordinator of Lona Cultural Municipal Herbert Vianna<\/a>,\u00a0who\u00a0reached out to home and store owners, asking for permission to paint and negotiating\u00a0colors and drawings.<\/p>\n

At midday on Saturday, October 11, artists gathered in front of\u00a0Galp\u00e3o Bela Mar\u00e9, the building hosting the festival, and set off to paint walls in the community, to the\u00a0wonder and excitement of residents who observed. Some houses were painted by their owners, but their efforts were helped by food, drinks or additional painting hands, like often happens in the traditional mutir\u00e3o<\/a> <\/em>(collective action events) in favelas.<\/p>\n

After the paint had dried, the creative work of Nata Fam\u00edlia<\/a> crew,\u00a0Bruno Zagri<\/a>, Rafo Castro<\/a>, Robson Rdois\u00f3 and Chico21\u00a0started and only ended late in the afternoon.<\/p>\n

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Residents’ appreciation<\/h3>\n

Debora de Souza Pereira, 20, born and raised in Mar\u00e9’s favela\u00a0Nova Holanda<\/a>\u00a0was enthusiastic about her house being painted.<\/p>\n

\u201c[This event is] something more cultured, different, many people aren\u2019t used to it,\u201d she said. \u201cI\u2019ve been living here 20 years but I\u2019ve never seen anything like this happening.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jiai Rinaldo, 34, a bar owner who’s lived in Mar\u00e9\u00a0for three years, was\u00a0thrilled and explained the myriad benefits the event brought to the community:\u00a0\u201cThis kind of project is great. It promotes [the artist’s]\u00a0work, it makes my business look nicer, and strengthens the community. People here need more art and culture, like theater, more education<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0schools for the young.\u201d<\/p>\n

Shopkeeper Andreia Marques do Nascimento, 22, was born in\u00a0Vidigal<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0works\u00a0in\u00a0Complexo da Mar\u00e9.\u00a0She said the event was a way for the community to express itself.<\/p>\n

\u201c[It’s] a way of showcasing arts, and graffiti art is a way of expressing ourselves\u2013expressing it in the streets. Projects like this are very important, because nowadays people don\u2019t have that much contact with the arts and people should be more in touch with art.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Thrilled organizers, artists and supporters<\/h3>\n

Event organizer Geisa Lino told how pulling off events like All Colors for Mar\u00e9 is very difficult.<\/p>\n

\u201cUsually it\u2019s so difficult to articulate events which look to bring Mar\u00e9\u00a0residents to contemporary art and other community happenings,\u201d she said. “It\u2019s difficult for the ones who don\u2019t have that access, knowledge or formal\u00a0education.\u201d<\/p>\n

Geisa\u00a0explained how Coletivo Mar\u00e9 and other favela projects have the same aim to empower the community to claim their own public spaces<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat we do is\u00a0empower<\/a>, we just provide organizational support. This kind of project brings people together, saying \u2018look, this is your space! Appropriate it! It\u2019s for you!\u2019 Pontilh\u00e3o Cultural, for example,\u00a0<\/b>was a garbage dump, but now it’s a skate park with\u00a0space for graffiti. We installed our own lighting, we pay\u00a0for it, so everyone can go at all times.\u201d<\/p>\n

She was also very enthusiastic about Mar\u00e9’s artistic force.<\/p>\n

\u201cMar\u00e9\u00a0is a place rich in\u00a0culture and arts<\/a>,” she said. “We have painters, urban artists, people who cover the whole city including Mar\u00e9. There are different trends, it\u2019s not just funk<\/a>, there are different [artistic]\u00a0languages. Mar\u00e9 is a hub of creation, something living. There\u2019s a corps\u00a0of photographers\u00a0which is the most unbelievable thing, Imagens de Povo<\/a>, of paramount abilities<\/a>, working all around the world.\u00a0There’s the theater company, Companhia Marginal<\/a>, that has been active for ten\u00a0years and is comprised\u00a0of young people who have already achieved many awards\u00a0and national tours.”<\/p>\n

Despite all this artistic production already in Mar\u00e9<\/a>, Geisa wants more.<\/p>\n

“Of course we\u2019re still lacking incentives, but things already got much better. There are more opportunities, things like Travessias<\/a>. We\u2019d like to have this space always active, not just once or twice a year, but more and more projects happening.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Alberto Aleixo\u00a0de Souza, 46, organizer of the movement “A Mar\u00e9 que queremos<\/a>\u201d (The Mar\u00e9 We Want) and resident of\u00a0Nova Holanda\u00a0for 34 years, applauded the event.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt brings a little bit of color, a little bit of life to the streets, and closes the distance between people and art, and leaves the community even prettier than before.\u00a0There\u2019s too much stigma around\u00a0favelas<\/a>, people only think about favelas as a place of violence and shootings<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n

Alberto believes the arts can be used as means to end favela stigma<\/a> as well as avoiding their ghettoization.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have to bring people in and show them: \u2018Look, there are other things happenings here!\u2019 And also people from here, who are too fixed inside the same favela daily life, to be taken outside and exercise a new way of looking at and understanding things.\u201d<\/p>\n

Alberto promotes the communication and mutual benefits of the\u00a0morro<\/em> (hill, or favela)\u00a0meeting asfalto\u00a0<\/em>(asphalt, or formal city). He concluded: \u201cIt doesn\u2019t have to be like a ghetto here: we have to make exchanges!\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Alberto<\/a><\/p>\n

Leonardo Rack, 25, graffiti artist\u00a0and resident of\u00a0Baixa do Sapateiro<\/a>\u00a0in Mar\u00e9, was excited to contribute to the event because he loves his community.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was contacted by Geiza and she\u00a0asked\u00a0me\u00a0whether\u00a0I wanted to participate [in All Colors for Mar\u00e9], so I replied: \u2018C\u2019mon, for my community? Of course I want to!’ [This project] makes\u00a0this favela more beautiful, and brings another culture in, more\u00a0knowledge for the young.”<\/p>\n

Leonardo\u00a0spoke about the graffiti workshops that are part of the Travessias art festival.<\/p>\n

\u201cAt times when you go to paint in different favelas, young people\u00a0come at you with a thirst for tasting a different culture. There are a lot of artists here, of all different kinds. There are many migrants from the Northeast, for example, so artistry is already inserted in our local culture. This happens very often: connecting cultures.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Travessias 1, 2, 3 and counting<\/h3>\n

A project by the Observat\u00f3rio de Favelas<\/a>,\u00a0Travessias\u00a0has reached its third edition with many successes along the way. The second edition\u00a0starred the works of Vik Muniz<\/a>\u00a0and was well reviewed by the press. The third edition, which opened on August 23 and will run through November 16, features an exhibition of works by contemporary Brazilian artists and the favela-based photographers of Imagens do Povo<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Besides ongoing\u00a0workshops and projects in architecture, graphic design, stencil and graffiti, Travessias 3 is also promoting debates like\u00a0\u201cWhen are\u00a0cities ready?\u201d on Saturday, November 1, in which the subject of\u00a0urban models in the context of the social and economic transformations in\u00a0Rio will be discussed. Another notable event is the debate \u201cAre urban aesthetics central for contemporary culture?\u201d on Saturday, November 15, that will question the place of Black and \u2018alternative\u2019 cultures in contemporary art aesthetics.<\/p>\n

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Travessias 3\u00a0is more than an art festival: it is a space for dialogue, democratic circulation of information and new ways of thinking in\u00a0Complexo da Mar\u00e9.\u00a0Without territorial or social barriers\u00a0Travessias\u00a0treats the favela as an artistic reference where the mobilization of creation is possible.<\/p>\n

Travessias 3 runs until Sunday November 16. For more information and the full program visit the Travessias 3 website<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n

To view full album see below, or click here<\/a> to see on Flickr with captions:<\/h3>\n