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.