Favelas, Brazil
Bosnia without horizon
According to the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE), more than 30 million Brazilians live in precarious housings. Approximately, 6.6 million families do not have a place to live and a third of the households are not connected to the sanitary sewer network. Given the considerable difficulties of the Brazilian population, in 2009 the Government launched the program "My House, My Life", that set a goal of building 2 million houses in 2014, in order to have a proper home. The incentive program for the poorest families has been accompanied by restoration of the most precarious neighborhoods. In Rio de Janeiro, where more than 500,000 persons stay in agglomerated suburban clusters, known as Favelas, urban development actions have been undertaken to clean up the image of the city before the sports world meet. The Brazilian Government and the rest of the countries are facing the challenge of giving shelter to all these people. This is the only hope, which the inhabitants of the Favelas have to go day after day with a smile.
Location: Complexo do Alemão, Morro da Babilônia and Morro Dona Marta, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Date: 18-23th July 2012
Equipment: Canon 400D, Lens Tamron 18x200mm
Calunga, Brazil
Descendants of former black slaves who fled to the mountains of Central-West Brazil, the Calunga spent two centuries hidden and isolated from the society, in self-sufficient communities. Contact with Indian and rural white people of catholic influence, created a hybrid culture that manifests itself in the supply and strong syncretism. The situation of the Calunga community is of extreme marginality. They have difficulties with drinking water and electricity. Their houses are far from each other, because of which they lack a consolidated identity. This prevents the struggle for the basic rights. In the last years, heroic individual actions, such as Dona Procopi's work (indicated for the Peace Nobel Prize in 2004), which talked about them, achieved small success. The term "quilombo", in Portuguese, Brazil, refers to social groups living on the edge of the society. The biggest challenge of this quilombo community till date, is rural survival and the systems pressure.
Location: Cavalcante, Goiás, Brazil
Date: 12-18th April 2012
Equipment: Canon 400D, Lens Tamron 18x200mm
Book
Co-author of an e-book about the Calunga, a community of ancient slaves in the middle-west of Brazil. Publication edited during my Studies abroad in the Universidade Federal de Goiás (UFG), Brazil. The content consists in the History of the tribe from the life of an old man.
Video
Interview with the calunga's leader, Dona Procipi (nominated for the Nobel Prize on 2004) and her son. Calunga was a community of ancient slaves that still live on isolated mountains of Middle-Centre of Brazil. Dona Procopi started a struggle to defense the rights of the calunga and get basic supplies as water or electricity. In spite of being illiterate, this woman was the icon of all marginal groups on the country.
Production: Cavalcante, 14th April 2012
Running Time: 10:47 min
Recorded: FUJIFILM photo-camera
Edition program: Premiere
Indigenous Embera displaced in Bogotá
More than 700 indigenous Embera are living in poor conditions on the most dangerous neighbourhood of Bogotá. Displaced by the armed groups on their territories, are coming to the capital where they lived on misery by begging or selling traditional costume jewelry on the streets. They live on apartments with lack of water and electricuty, suffering the system and social discrimiantion. Some children suffer stomachal problems or sarna due to the lack of healthy conditions.
Location: Santa Fe and San Bernardo neighbourhoods, Bogotá, Colombia
Date: October 2017
Equipment: Canon 7D, lens 18x200mm
Xavante, indigenous Brazil
The Initiation Ritual of Xavante, an Indian tribe, is held every seven years. Teenagers prepare for four months before they move into adulthood. The ritual is as follows: In the first stage, they hit their arms against the river water, twice a day. Later, their ears are pierced with a panther’s bone with a wooden cylinder carved on it, which is a symbol of ethnic distinctiveness. In the second stage, members of different clans race against each other, at dawn and dusk. Finally, they come out to hunt panthers by encircling the animal with fire. This time away from home can last for several weeks. The ritual ends with a three-day festival which celebrates the dance of the Sun, the Moon and establishes the marriages of these teenagers with young women of the village. In the second part, the rite includes strengthening the physical and spiritual, where the old sages teach them how to interpret dreams to future adults. The essay includes images of Corrida do Noni and Wanoridobe (second stage), which were taken by Xavante’s students from Sangradouro, under the project 'Aldeia Digital' (Digital Village), in order to train indigenous people in the new technologies.
Location: Villages of Sangradouro and São Marcos, Mato Grosso, Brazil
Date: August-September 2102
Equipment: Canon 400D, Lens Tamron 18x200mm
Urban camp, Brazil
After being cheated by the landowner, 70 families had to create a settlement around Goiânia’s periphery, middle Brazil. The landowner sold the same plot to several people, which lacked the basic facilities, such as potable water or electricity. The inhabitants built houses with wood and canvas and self-organized as neighbourhood community. Despite the progress made, disputes between neighbours during the distribution of supplies and the police threat created constant tension. The absence of hygiene and the spread of diseases are the major concerns of the community.
Location: Goiânia, Brazil
Date: 6th June 2012
Equipment: Canon 400D, Lens Tamron 18x200mm