A Favela, by definition is a Brazilian shanty town, or slum. Here in America, we call those places the ghetto. In the heart of Rio de Janeiro, dutch designers Joroen Koolhas and Dre Urhahn took on a project called the Favela Painting Projects, where they aimed to bring art to some of the poorer, crime ridden neighborhoods of Brazil. Then, I am assuming they went right back to their posh hotels or comfortable homes in whatever land magical Dutch people are from. (I am not sure where it is geographically, but I am picturing wooden shoes and Christmas elves for some reason and don’t care enough to google it)
In America, when you see a bunch of bright colored houses, you are almost always in the ghetto, and you almost always speed up to get back to the bland suberbs or gated apartment communities where you live. So my question is this:
Did painting the Favela’s actually change the living situations of the people and bring art and beauty into the community, or did they just basically paint a great big bulls-eye on the ghetto practically screaming Please feel free to deal your drugs here!
Go visit and decide for yourself.
Lets put
the Shanty back in town!!!