I have been working in the Comma Project space on my art piece today. In true favela tradition I have been using everything and anything to hand to create the make shift housing. Had a particularly tough time working out how to make pegs for the washing lines but managed in the end using match sticks and a sharp knife. I was asked today by one of the Butterfly park volunteers what my working method/plan was? My answer was, I really don’t have one! I deliberately did not plan out the favelas and have not used a ruler or straight edges for cutting, I have just gone with the flow! Favelas are constructed by their inhabitants out of any materials they can find and built using whatever methods or experience they have, many have no skills what so ever and just make do and mend to the best of their abilities. With this in mind I have been just working away and adding parts and building the boxes up to best fit the space I am working in.
I made a little pair of underpants today in homage to Ian Broadley the artist in resident before me who proudly presented an XXL pair of blue Y fronts on the first day of his residency so I have carried on the tradition.
There have been lots of people coming in from the New Ferry community to ask questions and look at what I have been doing. I have received lots of positive comments and many people have really taken on board the idea of the favelas and how the development of green spaces is important in both communities. One gentleman told us that he had lived in Uruguay and seen the favelas for himself, he told me that the streets were so narrow that it was hard to get through them and that because they were built on the side of a mountain they were incredibly steep he said he was glad he wasn’t living there now as he was too old to walk up streets that steep.
Finally on my way home tonight I bumped into a friend, apparently the images of the favelas are being well received on Facebook, he was really enthusiastic when I told him that he was more than welcome to come and build some more, looks like I’ll have lots of help over the weekend . It’s so exciting and gratifying to know that people are enjoying a project you are working on and want to get involved.
