Guest Blogger #98, Entry #556, June 15th
Do you like having a home? I imagine that you do. Now what if EVERYONE in the world told you that your neighborhood was bad and crime infested. You would contest that line of thought wouldn’t you? Well let me introduce you to the “Favelas” of Brasil, one of many is Rocinho in Rio de Janeiro.
How did the Favelas come to be you wonder? In the 18th century kidnapped africans who were sold into inhuemane bondage as slaves with no land ownership and employment came together to form the modern day Favelas (then called bairros africanos). Due to industrialization the “downtown” areas of Brasil utilized gentrification techniques (akin to those in the “states”) to disrespectfully uproot those very same africans and force them to the outskirts of the city. Recently, in part due to the pursuit of a better or different lifestyle than that offered by the rural community, favelas have seen an increase of 7.5% in regards to their population.
Some sources state that the term Favela was taken from the name of the first Favela, on the hill Morro da Favela. So as you can see there are some discrepancies on the names origins or possibly the attempt to hide the truth. Either way I will make an effort to focus on that unique architecture featured in the Favelas though the plight of my people is difficult to read about.
In terms of Rio de Janeiro architecturally – these housing clusters occur in two areas of “Rio”: Along steep hillsides or along the outer fringes of urban expansion (see article titled “Rio World Cup demolitions leave favela families trapped in ghost town.”) It is quite unfortunate that the same entity that will not help the citizens rise are invaded by that entity’s security force at will. In the past the houses were made first from wattle-and-daub( sand and clay mixture) and wood (a temporary building material) due mainly to urban expansion by the government who would demolish any favelas in their path if they wanted to expand.
Only in the last 30 years have citizens begun to use masonry construction to construct their houses. Also dictating the materials used for construction is the amount of money saved by each family and the location of the site (given they live there for free, similar to squatters). This post will be more photographic and visual – in an effort to evoke emotion from you. Enjoy – if you can.
Thank you for taking the time to view the beautiful but depressing imagery. The lovely painted facades you saw above sadly came about as a joke between artists Jeroen Koolhaas and Dre Urhahnbut in the beginning. (“The idea to paint an entire favela started as a joke, but it stuck,” Koolhaas said”) Thankfully their humor translated into a positive effort to bring some joy to the lives of those living in the “Favelas”. On a side note, why are the lower income housing areas always able to be experimented on?
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