When I entered JBU as a freshman I was originally an Animation major. I stuck with it for a year and a half before I decided I didn’t want to work on a computer all day long, so I became solely an Illustration major so I could work with my hands more. Seeing animations like this make me rethink that decision…for like a second.

I think the best way to get out my dreams of directing a movie, animating and writing a novel would be to write and illustrate my own graphic novels. One day perhaps.

btw—in the end I work on the computer all day long anyway

I recently stumbled upon this photo of a painted favela. The project creators, Haas & Hahn, first went to Rio and São Paolo to film a documentary about hip hop in the favelas, Brasilian ghettos, for MTV. Inspired by their visit they set out to create a project to beautify Praça Cantão in Santa Marta, a favela in Rio.

Most countries south of the Rio Grande are known for being very colorful: fabrics, decorations, houses, etc. however, here in Guatemala—and in most other Latin American countries I assume—the notoriety for being colorful is increasing seen less in the beautiful native textiles and more in bright chicken buses and the thousands of billboards and painted advertisements that visually pollute the city. Many illegal settlements and slums here are covered in adverts selling powdered milk and cell phone service providers. For someone who hated the billboard situation in the US, I possibly picked the most visually polluted place on Earth to live for the moment. I appreciate what the Haas & Hahn have done in Rio because it adds the color to their place of living without exploiting the inhabitants for cheap publicity space or bombarding them with product placement.

Check out the process of the mural and their future plans below while listening to Seu Jorge, who grew up in the favelas of Rio and went on to become a famous musician and an actor and star in a few of my favorite movies, Cidade de Deus/City of God and The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou.

Here is the favela of Santa Marta before the makeover:

The concept sketch

Here is the final with the project creators

Below is a graphic created by me using their photos from their next project: O Morro. O Morro, the hill, is a slum built on the whole side of a hill that is right next to the beach in Rio.

VIA

To see another example how Brasil is fighting the visual pollution of billboards read this post.

My favorite part of the Barça trip was the Museu Picasso (free the first sunday of the month, which I was there for) & La Caixa Forum (another free museum), who had a exhibit by a Catalá painter named Joaquín Mir, who I really liked.

His cave paintings of Mallorca

Pictures just don’t do them justice.

You can see the rest HERE.

You can see the rest HERE.