From Dre Urhahn and Haas&Hahn of Favela Painting:
“Our latest work in Rio de Janeiro. It’s called Praça Cantão and
spans over 34 houses, covering 7000 square meters. We are slowly moving
towards our goal: painting an entire favela and we’re getting closer and
closer.
Over the last month, Praça Cantão, the square at the entrance of the
community of Dona Marta was turned into a vibrant artwork of monumental
scale. 34 houses on the giant hillside favela, located in the center of
Rio de Janeiro, have been painted in a design of colorful rays,
radiating into the city. This 7000 square meter artwork is part of the
‘Favela Painting’ project by Haas&Hahn (Jeroen Koolhaas and Dre
Urhahn), a project that aims to transform communities into landmarks and
inspirational monuments as a part of Rio’s image, next to the statue of
Christ the Redeemer and Sugar Loaf mountain.
Realization of the artwork is largely driven by the inhabitants of
Dona Marta. 25 local youth have been trained as painters, providing for
their own income and being responsible for turning their own
neighborhood into a colorful monument. This grassroots method of working
has proven to be successful in earlier projects, and gives the local
community empowerment, pride and color. The local team is complemented
by three painters from another favela, Vila Cruzeiro, where two of the
previous projects by Haas & Hahn took place.
The project has thusfar been financed through grants and donations,
but a co-operation with the dutch paint company AkzoNobel might open new
doors. A meeting with their Managing Director Tex Gunning, showed they
had a shared vision. “They wanted to give color to the community”, Dre
recalls, “and we wanted to give art to the community. I see no reason
why we cannot recreate this idea across 300 houses, 3000 houses, whether
its in Rio, Johannesburg, Mumbai or anywhere in the world.”
About Favela Painting
In 2006, the Dutch artists Jeroen Koolhaas en Dre Urhahn conceived the
idea of creating community-driven art interventions in Brazil. Named
‘Favela Painting’, their first efforts yielded two murals which were
painted in Vila Cruzeiro, Rio’s most notorious slum. The first mural is
entitled ‘boy with kite’ and has a surface of 150 m2. The second mural
proved to be more challenging, with a surface of 2000 m2. Painted on a
staircase in the heart of Vila Cruzeiro, it depicts a flowing river with
Koi Carp fishes in the style of a Japanese tattoo, designed together
with Rob Admiraal. The artworks for the murals are painted in
collaboration with the local youth. Training and paying them as
painters, learning them the tricks of the trade and empowering them by
contributing to the development of the artwork. These projects received
worldwide press coverage and have become points of pride both within the
community and throughout Rio.
Using a grassroots-based bottom-up approach has proven to be a key
factor in the success and final results. In order to generate support
and approval for their activities, the artists always make the favela
their home. By spending their time within the local community, they’re
able to connect to their surroundings more easily, winning the hearts
and minds of people. In their point of view, the inhabitants of the
favela are a legitimate part of the city, but not seen that way from the
outside. Using these beliefs, they work with the locals to paint the
artworks, literally helping them changing the face of their community.
Over the years, inhabitants of the favela’s have become aware of this
method, and are actively requesting their favela to be turned into an
artwork. As one woman from Vila Cruzeiro put it: ‘I’ve never been to a
museum in my life, and now I’m living in one’.
Favela Painting is supported by the Firmeza Foundation in the
creation of striking artworks in unexpected places. It collaborates with
the local community to use art and color as a tool to inspire, create
beauty, combat prejudice and attract attention. The Foundation
facilitates the worldwide realisation of art interventions, and looks
after their maintenance. It also develops relevant spin-off projects in
the areas of education, socio-economic / social support and development
of local people involved in the projects.
As of March 2010, Favela Painting has established a collaboration
with AkzoNobel’s decorative paint division. Based on their mission of
“adding colour to people’s lives”, AkzoNobel intends to participate in
an inspiring and meaningful manner in local communities in the countries
in which it operates. The objective of the cooperation between both
parties is to realise worldwide, large scale “community driven” works of
art. Works of art that make a colourful difference in the lives of
individuals, groups, communities and cities. Works of art that have the
potential of inspiring others elsewhere, that leave an indelible
impression and can work as a catalyst in the processes of social renewal
and change.
