{"id":54931,"date":"2019-07-29T07:53:58","date_gmt":"2019-07-29T10:53:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rioonwatch.org\/?p=54931"},"modified":"2019-07-31T08:30:48","modified_gmt":"2019-07-31T11:30:48","slug":"thank-you-and-farewell-a-floating-tribute-to-ecio-salles-and-his-legacy-for-literature-from-rios-favelas-and-peripheries","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/?p=54931","title":{"rendered":"Thank You and Farewell: A Floating Tribute to Ecio Salles and His Legacy for Favela Literature"},"content":{"rendered":"

Clique aqui para Portugu\u00eas<\/em><\/strong><\/a>\u00a0 <\/em><\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

Last Tuesday afternoon, July 23, friends and family members of writer and cultural producer Ecio Salles<\/a> (1969-2019) gathered at the Park Library<\/a>, in downtown<\/a> Rio de Janeiro, to pay homage to the co-founder of the Literary Festival of the Peripheries (FLUP<\/a>). Along the library\u2019s sidewalk on Presidente Vargas Avenue, the crowd set loose dozens of white balloons inscribed with poems and messages, saluting the late Salles with a cry of \u201cAx\u00e9.\u201d The gesture alluded to the festival\u2019s annual tradition of beginning its activities with a flight of white balloons, inspired by the aerial poetry movement organized by Cooperifa<\/a> years ago.<\/span><\/p>\n

M\u00e1rcio Rufino, a participant in the Ciclo de Narrativas Curtas<\/a> (Short Narratives Circle) event and the Black Narratives Lab<\/a> at FLUP, says that the white balloon tradition goes back even farther. \u201cWhen [he] was at the City of Nova Igua\u00e7u Cultural Office<\/a>, Ecio always did this kind of thing, gathering the people to let loose balloons with verses and poems stuck to them.\u201d At the time, Rufino was the cultural liaison for Bairro-Escola<\/a>, a Nova Igua\u00e7u<\/a> City government project in Greater Rio<\/a>, and participated in the P\u00f3 de Poesia poetry collective<\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n

https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/FlupRJ\/videos\/2359637447634694\/<\/p>\n

<\/h3>\n

Trajectory and Work<\/b><\/h3>\n

In 2008, when Marcus Faustini<\/a> put together his<\/a> team at the City of Nova Igua\u00e7u Cultural Office, Ecio Salles and Julio Ludemir<\/a> met. For the first few years, Salles worked as sub-Secretary, later becoming <\/span>Secretary for 2010 and 2011. In 2012, Salles and Ludemir founded the Literary Festival of the Peripheries, FLUP, initially christened the Literary Festival of the UPPs<\/a> (a reference to Rio\u2019s Pacifying Police Units<\/a>), or FLUPP.<\/span><\/p>\n

The FLUPP\u2019s first edition<\/a> took place in the favela of Morro dos Prazeres<\/a>, located in the hills near Christ the Redeemer. The second<\/a>, by then renamed the Literary Festival of the Peripheries, moved to the North Zone\u2019s<\/a> Vig\u00e1rio Geral<\/a> favela, marking a sort of return for Salles to the community where he began his work in 1993 as one of the coordinators of the NGO Afroreggae<\/a>. FLUP would go on to hold its annual festivals in Mangueira<\/a>, near the Maracan\u00e3 stadium; Chapeu Mangueira<\/a>, in the hills overlooking Copacabana beach; City of God<\/a>, in the West Zone<\/a>; and Vidigal<\/a>, in the South Zone<\/a>. Last year\u2019s FLUP took place at the Valongo Wharf<\/a>, Rio\u2019s historic slave port<\/a>, using the nearby Park Library as one of its central event spaces.<\/span><\/p>\n

Danielle Bernadino, Salles\u2019 widow and mother of their two daughters, reminded attendants of the significance of her husband\u2019s wake taking place there at the library, surrounded by so many books and friends. At the entrance to the library\u2019s main hall, Salles\u2019 books lined the shelves, including titles like <\/span>Poesia Revoltada<\/span><\/i><\/a> (Revolted Poetry), <\/span><\/i>and\u00a0<\/span>Hist\u00f3ria e Mem\u00f3ria de Vig\u00e1rio Geral<\/a><\/span><\/i> (History and Memory of Vig\u00e1rio Geral), <\/span>co-produced with Maria Paula Ara\u00fajo; <\/span>Eu me chamo Rio<\/span><\/i><\/a> (My name is Rio) and <\/span>FLUPP Pensa Narrativas Curtas<\/span><\/i><\/a> (Short Narratives of FLUPP Pensa), both organized with Ludemir.<\/span><\/p>\n

Salles studied Language Arts at the State University of Rio de Janeiro (UERJ<\/a>) before completing a Masters Degree in Brazilian Literature at the Fluminense Federal University (UFF<\/a>) in 2003, and writing his dissertation <\/span>Poesia Revoltada, um estudo sobre o hip hop no Brasil <\/span><\/i>(Angry Poetry, a study on hip-hop in Brazil)<\/span>, later published by Editora Aeroplano. In 2009, with his thesis <\/span>Sonoridades da Exist\u00eancia: m\u00fasica, comunica\u00e7\u00e3o e produ\u00e7\u00e3o do comum <\/span><\/i>(Sonorities of Existence: music, communication, and production of the common)<\/span>, Salles completed his Ph.D. in Communication and Culture from the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ<\/a>).<\/span><\/p>\n

But Salles’ relationship with literature began well before university. According to Ludemir, it all began when Salles fell sick with tuberculosis as a child and his mother brought him a copy of Machado de Assis\u2019 <\/span>The Alienist<\/span><\/i><\/a>. By age 14, he had devoured all of Assis\u2019 romances.<\/span><\/p>\n

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

Born in Olaria<\/a>, a North Zone suburban neighborhood located \u201con the edge of Complexo do Alem\u00e3o<\/a>,\u201d as he would say, Salles now enters into the history of Brazilian literature as one of the principal drivers of the peripheral literature scene, working to democratize literary culture. In his final months, Salles worked on the biography of Pai Santana<\/a> (1932 – 2011), a legendary masseur for the Vasco da Gama soccer club, Salles\u2019 favorite team. He also sat on the board of the Universidade das Quebradas<\/a>, and curated the Cole\u00e7\u00e3o Tramas Urbanas<\/a> (Urban Plots Collection) anthology, giving immediate visibility to a host of peripheral authors, and doing so at a moment when, Ludemir notes, the question of urban peripheries was not yet being discussed. It would not be until after the socially affirmative policies of the government of President Lula da Silva<\/a> that the peripheries would gain robust conversation. FLUP, also co-founded with Ludemir, stands out as one of Salles’ central legacies for the peripheries in the literary world.<\/span><\/p>\n

The Periphery’s Legacy for the Country<\/b><\/h3>\n

\u201cThere already existed [literary] production in the periphery but these people did not have much visibility in channels of publication. In discourse, they were even rarer. The FLUP helped to give visibility, to show that there already existed a potent literary scene in the periphery and, beyond that, it showed many people that\u2014people who may have been unsure whether what was being written was literature, if it was quality or not\u2014that yes, it was indeed literature,\u201d says R\u00f4ssi Alves, professor at UFF. \u201cEcio and Julio are etched into the history of literature of the periphery, of expression for marginalized and invisibilized segments. Today, some authors work with major publishers, some don\u2019t, but they are happy, selling their books and participating in debates and training other readers, helping in this educational process for a group that is no longer content with the mere right to consume literature, but wants to produce it as well.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

FLUP gave rise to authors like Ana Paula Lisboa<\/a> and Geovani Martins<\/a>, who today are columnists for the Globo<\/em> newspaper; Jesse Andarilho<\/a>, the first FLUP writer to have a book out by a major publisher; the Sarauzeiras Oniricas<\/a> poetry group, and so many others. According to Romulo Narducci, a member of the Ciclo de Narrativas Curtas and organizer of the poetry meeting known as Uma Noite na Taverna<\/a> (One Night at the Tavern) in S\u00e3o Gon\u00e7alo<\/a>, a city located across Rio\u2019s Guanabara Bay<\/a>, FLUP \u201credrew the map of Rio de Janeiro, besides changing the way that the periphery is seen.\u201d For Narducci, \u201cthe periphery was seen as the outside, something exotic, and after FLUP, the periphery gained a real positive voice. FLUP showed that the periphery is capable, and that it has the potential to create first-class artistic and literary content.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

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

Andreza Jorge, a resident of the favelas of Mar\u00e9<\/a> near the city\u2019s international airport, was one of the writers featured in the book Seis temas \u00e0 procura de um poema<\/em> (Six Themes in Search of a Poem), launched by FLUP in 2017. Jorge participated in FLUP Poetry and says that the experience strengthened her writing. \u201cMy own experience and insertion in this universe of FLUP, dreamt up by Ecio and Julio, showed me the power of this work,\u201d says Jorge. \u201cEverything that we read, obviously, is born from the life experience of the person who wrote it. There exists this idea of universality, as though the experience of the writer were that of the norm, of a normative experience. Then we end up feeling excluded because this signals that experience as the correct one. So when you have the possibility to write and to be recognized as a great writer, of writing something great through the perspective of your own experience, in my case, as a black woman from the favelas, this is such a bold move in the literary scene. In this sense, Ecio was always at the front, thinking about these issues, because the concept of universality in artistic production is not just a given. We have to work harder and harder to teach people that.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

For Ruffino, a resident of Greater Rio\u2019s Baixada Fluminense<\/a>, Salles\u2019 and FLUP\u2019s major impact is to have \u201crevived the legacy of Carolina de Jesus<\/a>, redefining the culture and literature produced by those that are made invisible by the literary canon and by the status quo. It\u2019s to have made it known that in the hills<\/span>, in the favela, in the West Zone, and in the Baixada, hearts beat, and blood flows. [This life] too has the capacity to turn into verses and narratives.\u201d Ruffino added: \u201cWithout Ecio, there is this huge vacuum. In our culture and in our hearts.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Ludemir brings up that Salles was a diplomat and a theorist, and a born teacher. \u201cEcio was always a diplomat, [he] didn\u2019t fight with people, he liked to talk. And he was great at finding supporters for FLUP.\u201d Adair Rocha, Professor of Communication at Rio\u2019s Pontifical Catholic University (PUC-Rio<\/a>), echoed this as characteristic of Salles. \u201cEcio was, in his historic dimension, a masterful tailor. He knew how to stitch together the diverse, plural, and potent figures of marginal, peripheral literary art. That was his strength.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

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

Ecio Salles suffered from lung cancer, and died at age 50<\/a>, on the afternoon of July 22, 2019. Tonight, Monday, July 29, at 7:00 PM, a seventh-day memorial commemoration will take place<\/a> at the Circo Crescer e Viver, in the neighborhood of Cidade Nova.<\/span><\/p>\n

Miriane Peregrino is a researcher, community journalist, and teacher with a Master\u2019s Degree in literature from the State University of Rio de Janeiro (UERJ). In 2013, she created the Literatura Comunica! (\u201cLiterature Speaks!\u201d) literacy project, which is active in schools, community libraries, and cultural centers. Born in the interior of Rio state, she has worked in Mar\u00e9 since 2013.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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