Rio is today. And tomorrow. A dagger sharp contrast of rich and poor, it is a model that grows throughout the rest of the world wherever the middle class is being attacked and steadily whittled down to a thin whisper.
When Brazil takes the world stage for the 2014 World Cup and the 2016 Olympics, most of Rocinha will miss the events. A slum that houses 200,000 people on the hillside in Rio, people there are borrowing electricity from the neighboring rich São Conrado and Gávea communities and figuring out how to meet their most basic needs. According to Mundoreal “Residents subsist in conditions of abject or near abject poverty, residing in small shanties stacked one on top of another, sometimes as many as 8 stories high.”
Jetsonorama (photo © courtesy Jetsonorama)
Street Artist Jetsonorama was in Rio de Janeiro to visit with friend Lea Rekow as part of Green My Favela (GMF), a more formal structural approach to bringing social and environmental remediation to Rocinha, one of the 10 largest slums in the world. “GMF was formed to reclaim degraded land and to create more productive green spaces inside Rocinha. GMF works with Rocinha residents to green what we can through collaborations with individuals, families, NGOs and schools.”
While there to learn about GMF and study how to offer support Jetsonorama also installed a few wheat-pastes he made to sort of lend a figurative hand. One of them appears as a symbolic way of reactivating a decidedly run-down site. He explains, “I had a chance to visit Lea’s project and to meet some of the Rocinha community members who are working with her to develop the site into a community garden space.”
Jetsonorama installing in Rocinha (photo © Lea Rekow)
Jetsonorama installing in Rocinha (photo © Kate Mytty)
Jetsonorama in Rocinha (photo © Jetsonorama)
Rocinha resident Carlos with a view behind of the .5 square mile area the slum is located in. (photo © Jetsonorama)
Carlos tending to one of the gardens on reclaimed land in Rocinha. (photo © Jetsonorama)
Children playing in Rocinha (photo © Lea Rekow)
Jetsonorama (photo © Jets0norama)
Other Articles You May Like from BSA:
Happy New Year of the Tiger! We found some on the street this week in New York, no surprise perhaps. In other news, OG train writer Chris “Daze” Ellis captured the attention of The New York Ti...
Lucca Ledda’s chubby men are constantly being tormented and abused by someone. If it’s not a full-bosomed dominatrix holding his leash then he is being pulled by his long rabbit ears from a hat, sand...
To accompany the exhibition “Writing the Future: Basquiat and the Hip-Hop Generation” at the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, a substantial catalogue has been released to support the show and place the...
A rich and storied collection from one of the streets most loved modern stencillists is C215: La monographie. C215. La Monographie. Éditions Albin Michel. Paris 2015 (photo © Jaime Rojo) On the st...
BLU re-creates his mural from 2009 and gives the neighborhood of Carmel, in Barcelona, Spain reasons to be overwhelmed with joy. The internationally known and respected muralist, street artist, an...