{"id":33861,"date":"2016-12-28T08:00:28","date_gmt":"2016-12-28T11:00:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.rioonwatch.org\/?p=33861"},"modified":"2017-02-27T10:32:02","modified_gmt":"2017-02-27T13:32:02","slug":"vidigal-medicinal-garden-and-art-gallery-promotes-education-nutrition-and-social-solidarity","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/?p=33861","title":{"rendered":"Vidigal’s Organic Medicinal Roof and Living Gallery Declared Rio Heritage Site"},"content":{"rendered":"

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

On Niemeyer Avenue at the entrance of\u00a0Vidigal<\/a>, in\u00a0the community’s Human Rights Plaza\u00a0and at its\u00a0first kombi\u00a0and moto-taxi stop, there’s a colorful graffiti wall portraying the community\u2019s history in a sort of territorial\u00a0museum. Above it, green plant tops peek over the roof to provide a fitting natural frame for the artwork, at the first public transport stop in Rio covered in medicinal herbs where, according to its creator Guto Graciano, “the harmony of the space promotes for the people an open-air gallery of ecological art.”<\/p>\n

The Organic Medicinal Roof and Living Gallery<\/a>\u00a0have been installations in Vidigal since 2014, when the local government of Rio de Janeiro\u2019s\u00a0South Zone<\/a> granted the Vidigal Neighborhood Association permission to use the public land for community purposes. The project is carried out by a collective of residents focused on \u201carchitecture, agriculture, and art,\u201d that among other roles, gardens, creates artwork, hosts community events, and promotes nutrition. Two main artistic curators lead daily operations and strategizing for future growth.<\/p>\n

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

Carlos Augusto Graciano, known to friends as Guto, is a 34-year-old urbanist and resident of Vidigal. He is the architect of the project, using his technical knowledge to transform the rooftop and visualize how residents will interact with the space. Guto\u2019s role as the project\u2019s architect is complemented by his collaborative partner Gra\u00e7a dos Prazeres, 43, also a resident of Vidigal. Gra\u00e7a brings her skills as a chef with a specialty in health and organic nutrition.<\/p>\n

The project is financially supported entirely by local residents and by donations of human capital from\u00a0the artistic coalition involved in the work. Local businesses, van owners, and the Vidigal Residents Association lend\u00a0support so all residents of Vidigal will\u00a0benefit from the project. All of the plants in the garden except one variety\u2013dragon fruit\u2013are native and thus sourced locally without cost.<\/p>\n

According to Gra\u00e7a, the project is unprecedented in Rio de Janeiro as the only community garden that is both medicinal and self-sustaining. In the garden, collaborators grow herbs and plants such as\u00a0boldo<\/a>, two varieties of\u00a0spiderwort<\/a>, dragon fruit, and cactus. Throughout the process, the rooftop space is used to educate the public about gardening and sustainable practices.<\/p>\n

\"Gra\u00e7a<\/a><\/p>\n

Gra\u00e7a wants to help \u201cbreak the paradigm in Brazil\u201d\u00a0whereby\u00a0part of the population avoids healthy, fresh food due to lack of access and cost. Green juice, she says chuckling, is not just for Giselle B\u00fcndchen or Beyonc\u00e9. She wishes more Brazilians would open their mind to new foods and new lifestyles, especially home gardens and the medicinal benefits of herbs. As an activist and proponent of alternative health care, trained\u00a0in popular health education at\u00a0Fiocruz, and volunteering\u00a0when necessary at the Dr. Rodolpho Periss\u00e9 medical post in the community, Gra\u00e7a has encountered many people suffering ailments that may be helped by lifestyle changes such as increased consumption of fruits and vegetables.<\/p>\n

Gra\u00e7a sees the organic rooftop garden as an important tool in the process of community education, and since the garden\u2019s inception, she recounts that many of her neighbors have begun growing backyard or windowsill greens of their own.<\/p>\n

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

As an architect, Guto believes his role goes beyond solving physical challenges. He says architects can design spaces that promote social equality.\u00a0Architecture<\/a> typically imposes an elite or dominant narrative. Guto sees the art mural and living roof as an act of community\u00a0resistance<\/a> against this narrative. By designing, building, and maintaining a space that is run collectively, the project is a mark of resilience in Vidigal.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, the art mural can be\u00a0updated, as long as it doesn’t deviate from its intended focus, to depict local history. Scenes painted contemplate the living monuments of Vidigal as forming part of the\u00a0city\u2019s heritage.<\/p>\n

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

As residents and community leaders, Gra\u00e7a and Guto are very aware of gentrification\u00a0and favela tourism<\/a> in Vidigal, acknowledging the\u00a0multi-faceted nature of these issues. On one hand, Gra\u00e7a notes, the influx of middle class residents has brought a greater intellectual diversity and artistic richness. However, she knows many residents of Vidigal who were not able to afford the steep rise in rent and everyday goods and had to relocate to distant\u00a0neighborhoods. In the context of how these changes are happening within Vidigal, Guto and Gra\u00e7a see community initiatives like their organic medicinal roof and art gallery as essential to cultural preservation and celebration.<\/p>\n

\"Guto<\/a>Several local media outlets have recognized<\/a> the work of Guto, Gra\u00e7a, and the entire collective. Guto explains that \u201cthe great differential of the works of the Organic Medicinal Roof and Living\u00a0Gallery is that they are the first living monuments in\u00a0Rio de Janeiro, maybe in Brazil, and they are the first works where the constructive elements of the monument are the artistic abilities (talent) of the people involved, where mutual work sought the reconciliation of intuitive and technical knowledge<\/a>, making it possible for ego to subside and instead give way to\u00a0experimentation.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Medicinal<\/a>Last year, when Vidigal celebrated its\u00a075th anniversary<\/a>, the space was declared a \u201cmark of resilience\u201d of Vidigal’s 75 years. Shortly after,\u00a0Municipal Bill n\u00ba 1583\/2015<\/a> declared the organic medicinal roof an urban cultural heritage site of immaterial nature in Rio de Janeiro, a decision that is still pending in the City Council,\u00a0with a favorable opinion. Meanwhile, on August 8 of this year, the day when\u00a0the medicinal roof celebrated\u00a0its first two years, it became part of the commemorative agenda of Rio’s\u00a0City Council, on the map as Living Monuments of Vidigal as Heritage of Rio.<\/p>\n

Guto and Gra\u00e7a wish to thank all those involved in various aspects of the project:<\/h3>\n

– Agriculture (medicinal garden): Gra\u00e7a dos Prazeres (chef of organic cuisine) \/ J.P. OLIVER (environmental manager) \/ Tiago Oliveira (biologist)
\n– Education\u00a0(local literature): Professor Barbara Nascimento \/supporters: Professor Paulo Cypa and Journalist Dan Delmiro
\n– Vidigal anthem\u00a0(art): MCs: Flip \/ MK \/ TG \/ VINCI \/ TOM \/ Composers: Marquinho do 14 and Marc\u00e3o
\n– Graffiti \u201cUrban Art\u201d (art): LUIZ SK \/ Vinicius revolu\u00e7\u00e3o \/ MAlac Abreu\/ Sonia Magalhaes \/ AfroGrafiteiras
\n– The community street-sweepers of Vidigal
\n– Vidigal public schools: Municipal School Almirante Tamandar\u00e9 and Municipal City School Djalma Maranh\u00e3o
\n– Vidigal Residents Association (AMVV) and leaders (opinion formers)\u00a0in Vidigal
\n– Van owners
\n– Sympathetic businesses and residents of Vidigal<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Clique aqui para Portugu\u00eas On Niemeyer Avenue at the entrance of\u00a0Vidigal, in\u00a0the community’s Human Rights Plaza\u00a0and at its\u00a0first kombi\u00a0and moto-taxi stop, there’s a colorful graffiti wall portraying the community\u2019s history in a sort of territorial\u00a0museum. […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":134,"featured_media":33863,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1290,1271,329,452,1329],"tags":[396,258,364,504,469,397,474,385,221,1565,1569,107,188,457,15,1403,156,471,194,363],"writer":[2212],"translator":[],"illustrator":[],"photographer":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-33861","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-civilsociety","8":"category-favelaqualities","9":"category-solutions","10":"category-rio20","11":"category-by-international-observers","12":"tag-art","13":"tag-community-solution","14":"tag-community-based-organization-cbo","15":"tag-culture","16":"tag-eco-lifestyle","17":"tag-education","18":"tag-environment","19":"tag-environmental-education","20":"tag-favela-culture","21":"tag-garden","22":"tag-green-roof","23":"tag-health","24":"tag-history","25":"tag-graffiti","26":"tag-pacifying-police-unit","27":"tag-solution","28":"tag-south-zone","29":"tag-sustainability","30":"tag-tourism","31":"tag-vidigal","32":"writer-laura-fairman"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33861","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/134"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=33861"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33861\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/33863"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=33861"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=33861"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=33861"},{"taxonomy":"writer","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fwriter&post=33861"},{"taxonomy":"translator","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftranslator&post=33861"},{"taxonomy":"illustrator","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fillustrator&post=33861"},{"taxonomy":"photographer","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fphotographer&post=33861"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}