Art will out

Entry to Estevao's home in the favela: Photo Tuco Reines

Estevão Silva da Conceição at work

Estevao's Garden

Miss Eagle watched again this morning the wonderful documentary, Gaudi in the Favela. The blogosphere has a large slice of it dedicated to home making, home decorating, home renovation. A lot of this has a significant consumerist element. In other words, one of the hallmarks of a major proportion of such blogs is consumption whether it is the furniture, the appliances, or the DIY stuff from the hardware shop.

Estevão Silva da Conceição's home in a favela (shanty town) in the centre of Sao Paulo, Brazil is quite a different and brilliant twist on making a place home and decorating it. The favelas of Sao Paulo are the domicile of the poor: the very, very, very poor. In a nation with huge demarcations between rich and poor, the favelas are a testimony to economic isolation.

At some stage in his life, Estevao started doing things to his place. Estevao's home, in the favela of Paraisopolis, has a small footprint so, at times, Estevao has gone up. He has mosaic-ed everything. A lot of Estevao's materials are found not purchased. They are then covered in concrete and whatever goes into making a colourful, interesting and artistic mosaic. His work is reminiscent of the work, in Barcelona, of the great Spanish architect, artist and designer, Antonio Gaudi.

The film, Gaudi in the Favela, depicts a man, without schooling or knowledge of Gaudi, who has built a Gaudinian castle with next to no resources. One day a young architectural student walks through the favela and discovers Estevao's home. She cannot believe that Estevao has never heard of Gaudi; that he is not consciously attempting to imitate Gaudi.

This meeting, in time, results on a trip for Estevao to Gaudi's city, Barcelona. Here Estevao comes face to face with the work of the master - from the great mosaics of Park Guell to his great unfinished Sagrada Familia.

Gaudi in the Favela is about the triumph of the human spirit. In the darkness of the slums, the glowing light of creativity can transform, console, encourage.

Finally, Miss Eagle has to say that well-executed and innovative mosaic has a penetrating and uplifting quality. It relies on colour - usually bright and exuberant. Its pattern rewards exploration. It makes one's spirit sing and soar. Melbourne, at the bottom end of this island-continent, is a long way from Park Guell and Paraisopolis but there is a lovely work in Bairnsdale, Victoria which, for Miss E, is evocative of Gaudi and Estevao. It is around the perimeter of a roundabout in a busy street. It is public art full of colour and joy.

Bairnsdale 3

An important place to visit in Bairnsdale is Krowathunkoolong, the keeping place of the Gurnai/Kurnai people. The aboriginal people of Bairnsdale seem to be well set up with a strong identity: there is a CDEP program, a childcare centre, and a place for the elders. They are keeping their culture strong and alive and making it known. One thing I learned from my visit was the discrepancy in history when only one side of the story is heard. There are many histories in our lives, many viewpoints and we need to listen to them all. You know the saying - history is written by the victors. Well, these days all sorts of people are getting a voice - even us bloggers - and it is good to listen to the voices to get some insight into what is actually happening or what has happened in the past.

Bairnsdale 2

I took quite a shine to Bairnsdale.

The picture above is of a roundabout done in mosaic.

It is reminiscent of Gaudi and his mosaics in Barcelona.

It is also reminiscent of Estevao's Gaudi-esque work in his favela.

There is a memorial plaque in the roundabout.

Whether Porky Allen had anything to do with the mosaic creation is not mentioned.

Someone might like to let me know about this.

Bairnsdale 1

St Mary's Catholic Church, Bairnsdale, Victoria

Painting by Francesco Floreani

My last night away from home was spent in Bairnsdale - in a motel. I missed the sound of the Bass Strait rollers but - strange to tell - I went off to sleep with the sound of them - or the memory of the sound - in my ears.

The piece-de-resistance in Bairnsdale is the artwork at St Mary's Catholic Church. This is the work of Francesco Floreani. Floreani was born in Udine, near Venice, in 1899. He studied painting under Lucardi, Professor of Painting and Decorating at the Udine College before going on to the Academy of Arts at Turin.

Floreani left Italy in 1928. On arrival in Australia, he worked as ahouse painter in Melbourne. In the earlyl years of the great depression, he was forced into the country to look for work. Like many Italian migrants, he went to the Bairnsdale district where he found some employment, chiefly picking peas. Sometime in 1931, he turned up on the doorstep of the parish priest, Father Cremin, looking for work. Father Cremin asked him to repaint some of the statues at the foot of altar. He was impressed by Floreani's work as well as his credentials of formal artistic training. Every great artist needs a patron. Floreani had Father Cremin. Father Cremin commissioned Floreani to paint some murals in the church. Rather basic scaffolding was used: timber and rope anchored in sand-filled drums. Floreani covered the entire ribbed barrel-vaulted ceiling with gardlands of flowers and over three hundred seraphim and cherubim, each with a different face. The side altars, the sanctuary and upper areas of the nave walls were decorated in what proved to be a mammoth task. It took almost three years. Floreani received the sum of three pounds a week from Father Cremin's own purse. There were further extensions to the church and Floreani returned in 1937 to complete this work. He continued painting after returning to Melbourne where he died in 1981.