favela hope

i saw a wonderful documentary on tuesday night. the content was inspiring but it was backed up with great cinematography, editing and vigour. favela rising, about musicians afro reggae in a favela in rio de janeiro who decided to take a stand against official corruption and the drug gangs ruling their community.

i used to be afraid of the energy of brazil. the sexuality. this was before i even knew about favelas. this is just thinking about the frenetic dancing at carnival, samba and tiny shreds of clothing on gleaming taut bodies. maybe it was just a fear of string bikinis.
but i'm braver now. curious and inspired.
i bought the são paolo issue of parachute (no 116) - 2004 and it contained an article about the work of mônica nador. she works with disenfranchised and marginalized communities, and her projects are driven by a dehierarchization of art. walls are enlivened by the repetition of colourful images.
there was also an article, the sudden stardom of the third world city. the author, rana dasgupta suggests, a huge shift in the West's picture of the world: the third world metropolis is becoming the symbol of the "new"... the stacked-up, sprawling, impromptu city-countries of the third world.
all the more thrilling for its utter improbability: surely those suffocating piles of slums and desperation are too exhausted, too moribund, to bring forth futures?
this feels slightly parasitical to me. the privileged feeding off the desperate and desperately poor. and i feel implicated in this. inspired and enamoured of the shanty-town shabby chic, without having to suffer the violence and poverty.
the favela rising documentary cuts through this because it shows the spirit of the communities. mônica nador's work is inspirational because it is grass-roots, and doesn't fetishise the favelas but treats their citizens as they should be treated - with respect, as equals.
other favela painting projects
some more of nador's work i'm stupidly pleased her name is mônica.