Visible Memories

The first paintings

I started painting in the region in 2010, as part of my undergraduate research scholarship. Back then I produced imaginary figures of people from other times, at life scale, as if the everyday life of the past had been mixed into the present one.

The scale is the argument. At the size of a body, a painted figure meets you; larger and it becomes architecture, smaller and it becomes an illustration.

Photographs

Some of the photographs made in the region the following year. The paintings living in the street, at night and in daylight, with the people who pass them every day.

With Injusticia

An image from 2012 showing the background at Pedra do Sal, painted by me and Injusticia, from Chile.

The slave ship

As a development of the first painting project, in 2014 I worked with local black activists called Quilombolas, descendants of enslaved people who have kept their traditions and their housing since before abolition.

In collaboration with other artists raised in the port zone, Felipe Carvalho, Diego Deus and Douglas Oliveiras, we painted a huge slave ship. One that carried a message of strength.

The painting came to represent the presence of the Quilombolas in the region, and has since been used in news articles, music videos and even in advertising for historical tours.

The Sankofa Project

In 2016 I was invited by Damião Braga, president of the Quilombo, to make a painting in the area during the Summer Olympic Games. Challenge accepted. I coordinated the project with the artist Felipe Carvalho.

We collaborated with the architect Verônica Natividade, who brought her university students to help by making parametric generated stencils of African patterns. The work was based on our research into traditional Yoruba religious painting, and involved a crowdfunding campaign, several local artists and institutions.

We were inspired by Professor Ron Eglash’s work on African fractals and ethnomathematics. That reference was the key to describing traditional patterns as parametric code, using Grasshopper. We also had the pleasure of relying on Professor Bolaji Campbell’s personal advice on traditional Yoruba painting.

This is the exact point where the street work turned into the ethnocomputing research.

• Damião BragaQuilombo leader
• Vanessa Rosa and Felipe Carvalhocoordinators and researchers
• Verônica Natividadearchitect, designer and PUC professor
• Joyce Oliveira, Pedro Carneiro, Diego Deus, Thiago Haule, Vitor Vanesartists
• Camila Rodriguez, Eduardo Romano, Marcos Chaves, Rafael Magioliarchitecture students
• Monica Combatenteproducer
• Pajé Produçõesfilmmakers and documentation
• Zona Imagináriaproduction support

The Sankofa Project, filmed by eNCA, South Africa.

AJ+, “Mural Artists Reclaim Rio’s African Heritage”, 2016.