On to Sao Paulo!

In collaboration with QAZ - Arte Urbana (Urban Art), the advertising agency Leo Burnett, invited Chor Boogie for a session of Live Painting with local artists Cena 7 (Scene 7),
Emol
and
Rodrigo Branco.

This international branch located in Sao Paulo is quite large! The session took place on the 3rd floor/lounge area. While the owner of the agency definitely appreciates urban art, let's just say he was not expecting the end result to be as magnificent! He was very, very happy! A special thanks to Jordons Francisco, owner of Qaz Arte Urbana. A man who promotes Brazilian street artists as a hobby and passion.

Some VM snaps

Here are a few pictures I took in the past of Vila Mimosa

Vila Mimosa

Working on my book, I have spent a lot of time in Vila Mimosa, a red-light district which is located in Rio. It has an interesting history which I won't get into at the moment, but let's just say it's been around for a while. Prostitution in Brazil exists in many forms of service and of course encompasses different classes of prostitutes. There are the expensive high-status ones, who mainly work privately or through an agency and only do house calls. Some have pictures on websites and accrue their clients online. There are strip clubs as well as plain dance clubs filled with them. Sex workers who work on the street are ubiquitous, through time I have learned to recognize them quite easily (since Brazilians tend to dress on the skimpy side, foreigners can have trouble distinguishing them). Most of the street workers work for themselves, and simply go to a random hotel with their clients. But there are also those who bring clients back to brothels, and therefore have to pay the "house"-which is the case of Vila Mimosa.

Vila Mimosa is one of the craziest places I have ever seen!! It is a small street with a couple of dozens of brothels which function 24 hours per day. Loud music is constantly blaring from every venue, which also happen to be bars and places to just hang out. Vila Mimosa is quite dangerous and sketchy to put it mildly, however completely fascinating! Some of the women actually live there, but from my research most do not. Of course each client and lady have to negotiate pricing as every experience is different, but the norm around there is about 30 Reais per half hour (about $13 USD). To photograph Vila Mimosa and it's colorful people was an extremely difficult task! First, it's just plain dangerous, and second the people there are hard to trust as well as difficult to convince to be photographed. The owners as well do not appreciate photography as being a pimp IS considered illegal and photos can lead to denunciation.

Chor Boogie and I decided that the Vila could use a beautiful mural, we wanted to interpret street art with true street life. I acquired the connections and permission to paint there, and we were hosted by Vagner doNasc, a talented local artist who painted together with Chor. It was quite the spectacle and center of attention as always!

The Favela "Prazeres", Rio de Janeiro

One of our must-do's in Rio was to paint in a "favela". Favela is the Portuguese word for "shanty town or ghetto".. They are essentially squatter settlements constructed from a variety of materials, usually consisting mostly of bricks, with creative accents of any other available materials (you should use your imagination on this one).

Here is a bit of history on this subject which I find quite interesting:

The favelas began with Refugees and former soldiers involved in the Canudos Civil War (1895–1896) in Bahia. Because the government failed to provide any housing for the soldiers after the war, they started their own settlement on unclaimed public land on a hill in Rio de Janeiro. They named it Morro da Favela, after a plant which had thrived at the site of their famous victory against the rebels.

Over the years, many former black slaves settled there as well, eventually replacing the refugees as the major ethnic group. However, long before the first settlement called "favela" existed, poor blacks were marginalized, essentially not welcome to live downtown; they were only allowed work there. They were forced to create their own self-sustaining communities away from society.

Today, it's estimated, that one third or Rio’s urban population live in more than 500 favelas. In general, Brazilian cities do not recognize the existence of favelas as a legal entity. The communities often have their own means of acquiring electricity and water, as the government refuses to provide such resources legally. The number of inhabitants in Brazil's favelas is growing at an annual rate of some 7.5 per cent, whereas the overall population of Rio de Janeiro is only increasing by 2.5 per cent per year. Rio de Janeiro is not the only South American city with this type of squatter settlements. What makes Rio’s favelas unique is their locations. Most of them are situated on hillsides offering panoramic views over the city and the ocean, while the more affluent neighborhoods are located at the bottom of the hills.

I have been to, even slept in, several favelas all over Brazil and every experience is different. Although consitently poverty stricken and somewhat dangerous, I have never felt fear. I have always gone with trustworthy contacts who live there. It is however rather difficult to film or take photographs in any favela. Besides the saftey factor, residents are skeptical of the final destiny of thei images, which can basically incriminate them. I always respect who and what I am photographing and would never think of exploiting anyone.

Here are a couple photos of the view from the favela, and the mural Chor painted with our fabulous hosts, "The Fleshbeck Crew."

The bottom two photos I took at another favela, "Rocinha". It is the view from my friend's house, during the day and night.

Day 2

Among the many engaged spectators who watched Chor paint in Lapa, appeared "Mac". Mac really appreciated Chor's art and hired him to paint a beautiful mural inside his home the following day! Mac was instantly captivated and basically left the design up to Chor.

In two weeks I watched Chor paint a handful of walls, both alone and in collaboration with several Brazilian artists. To witness the whole process from start to finish was such a unique experience, and I felt very lucky being there! In the beginning I was always curious to know what the end product would be (7 hours later, haha) and I would ask him.. Chor never had an answer for me and I soon learned to let it be! That's the great thing about Chor's work, it is very spontaneous as is my photography so I can relate. The people on the streets also consistently asked the same question, and I would just reply "No one knows yet what it's going to be, not even Chor!"

Here is the piece Chor painted inside Mac's house in Ipanema.

Chor's first day in Rio

It was my absolute pleasure to introduce the talented artist Chor Boogie to Brazil, my second home.. Personally I have been photographing prostitutes there for the past year. Brazil is the only country in Latin America, in which the world's "oldest profession" is considered legal. I am publishing a coffee table book about the subject, with a few written interviews as well..

I also happen to have a serious penchant for street art, and have collaborated a few projects with Chor. This blog is dedicated to the work we did together in a two week period in both Sao Paulo and Rio.

These pictures are from his first day... Literally off the plane and onto the street to paint! We went to Lapa, which is a very unique bohemian district of Rio. It has an intense nightlife and tends to be a little "shady" which is perfect for our project.. About the photos.. the first one was a boy on the street when we started, I just loved his eyebrows. The second, the "owner" of the street. Then we have a couple of street kids admiring Chor's work; they were also asking to keep some of the cans for fun (they probably wanted to sell them). We also have some curious onlookers, Chor always draws a crowd, followed by some street band who play their instruments on their heads!