Brightening Up Favelas: Boa Mistura's 'Floating Graffiti'
A Spanish art collective has brightened up a run down favela with its floating graffiti.
Boa Mistura worked closely with the local community of Vila Brâsilandia, one of the favelas in São Paulo, Brazil to create a concept and bring it to life.
The finished product, Luz Nas Vielas, is a mix of vibrant colours and powerful words meaning love, beauty and pride.
Painted with precision, the graffiti is carefully crafted to work in the narrow streets (‘becos’ and ‘vielas’) that characterise the Favela’s landscape. When viewed from the right angle, the words flatten the perspective and appear to be floating.
Favelas are clusters of low-quality housing, typical of Brazil. They are illegal and so operate without sanitation, electricity or infrastructure.
The artists hope that the project will have a positive impact on the local community.
“Neighbour participation and community involvement in each of the interventions has been the determining factor for its realisation. Sharing, hand by hand, the transformation of their environment, the habitants modified their relationship with the public space and their own houses,” they said.
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The Huffington Post UK Brogan Driscoll First Posted: 13/03/2012 16:39 Updated: 13/03/2012 16:39