Mark
Jenkins is an American street artist who makes interesting sculptures out of
duct tape and exhibits them on the streets of cities across America. He was
born in Alexandria (Virginia) in 1970. Before this job, he was involved in web
design, played the saxophone, formed a funk band, and eventually found himself
in rap electronics. He has a girlfriend he is very much in love with, who
follows him everywhere and helps him with his work. Thanks to his idea, he
traveled a lot and paid special attention to people of other cultures. He wrote
a monograph called The Urban Theater.
Wild settlements in Brazil are called favelas. Although the "most famous" favelas are located in Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paulo, they are present in almost every major Brazilian city. The original settlements were formed by refugees and war veterans, who will be replaced later with the poor. Over 70% of the population in the favelas are blacks and drinking water is one of their biggest problems. Often, favela residents, favelados, drill city water pipes to get to the water. Despite the difficult living conditions and poverty, the most famous samba schools in Rio come from favelas, and some of the most famous Brazilian and world football players grew up in the favelas: Pele, Ronaldo, Rivaldo, etc.
The Favela painting project was created by two Dutch artists
named Jeroen Koolhaas and Dre Urhahn (Haas
& Hahn).
Back in 2005, when they met on the occasion of making a film
about hip hop culture in Brazilian favelas, they were surprised by the
creativity and optimism of favelados and on the other hand completely
disappointed with the conditions in which they live, on the edge of existence
and rejected by society.
They came up with the idea to turn the favelas into a work
of art with the help of the favelados youth, not only to beautify the area but
to attract the positive attention of people around the world, somehow reduce
prejudice against these people and build a bridge between the poor and wealthy
in Rio. Every favelado who joined the project was given a job, training and the
opportunity to make money.
It is extremely important to emphasize that the work of these artists and the project itself is financed through donations from good people who have understood the message they are trying to convey.
THE BOY WITH THE DRAGON, 2006.
In 2006, they have created the first mural - The Boy with the Dragon. The artists chose the design together with the favelados. It represents a boy with a dragon who is a symbol of each child in the Brazilian favela. They needed two months to create it, and it spreads over three buildings and faces the football field. As the mural started to fade and was damaged (bullet holes were formed in the street clashes between police and drug dealers) it had to be restored. Upon completion of the project, they returned to the Netherlands, held an auction to raise money and return to Rio, continue with the project, and involve even more favelados youth, which all happened in 2008.
RIO CRUZEIRO - CRUZEIRO STREET, 2008.
Rob Admiraal, a Dutch tattoo artist, joined the team and designed the Japanese-style mural-river. It took him 8 months to finish the mural. Now it spreads over 7000m2 and can be seen on Google earth.
PRACA CANTAO - SANTA MARTA, 2010.
In 2010, a group of 25 local young men was trained and paid to help paint a large area of Santa Marta Square, after which this location became a tourist attraction. The whole process took a year.
MURAL IN PHILADELPHIA
After Santa Marta, they get a call from Philadelphia.
The project is still ongoing, the goal is to complete the entire favela, which consists of thousands and thousands of houses, for which they need about a million dollars to build their paint factory to create new job opportunities, and also to reduce project costs. They invite everyone who believes in their idea to join and help with donations.
Watch a short movie.
