Favela Art: getting ready for the world cup & paint an entire favela

In 2006, the Dutch artist duo Haas&Hahn started deaveloping the idea of creating community-driven art interventions in Brazil. Their efforts yielded two murals which were painted in Vila Cruzeiro, Rio's most notorious slum, in collaboration with local youth. The artworks received worldwide coverage and have become points of pride in the community and throughout Rio.

The first painting, finished in 2007, was a 150m2 mural depicting a boy flying a kite, by far the most popular pastime in Rio's favela's.


O Morro

The initial idea of the Favela Painting project has always been to paint an entire hillside favela in the center of Rio, visible to all inhabitants and visitors.

This project involves employing the inhabitants of a favela to paint their own houses according to a pre-arranged pattern. It will turn their community into an artwork of epic scale and will produce an explosion of color, joyfully radiating into the world. Visible from the center of Rio, 'O Morro' will draw attention to the city's deplorable social situation, while instilling pride and joy in the at the bottom of the social hierarchy.

The project will transform the community into a landmark, a tourist attraction, and, most of all, an inspirational monument that assumes a place as an essential part of Rio's image, alongside the Sugarloaf and the statue of Christ the Redeemer.