An Interview with a "Street Artist" and a Tour of Vila Madalena

“A tall woman walks along the sidewalk of a busy downtown street; her backpack of supplies bouncing steadily in pace with her long strides.  Her pace speaks of purpose and frustration. The woman’s emerald eyes attentively scan the walls of buildings and staircases seeking out what she desires most.  She is an artist; an artist on a mission to find herself a canvas. 

"Concrete Heart"
photo provided by "Magrela" 

It is necessary that the canvas is fitting for her style of art; something ignored and ordinary. She craves to transform something dirty and unkempt into an item of beauty and vibrance.  Her lengthy black hair whips around her head as buses reeking of diesel and belching black smog blow by.  She needs an outlet, a release.

For over an hour she marches past three metro stops until she finally finds her canvas.  The wall is ugly and neglected.  The wall is perfect.  Its cracked and chipped surface begs the woman to be made into something to see. 

The artist feels angry and frustrated at the city.  It is not made for walking, trees or subjects of splendor.  She sets down her bag and takes out her brushes; making sure to shake each one thoroughly.  The can’s little metal ball rattles the paint and she begins to depict what she feels; a woman with a heart of concrete.  With every stroke she discharges her being into the image, controlling the chaos as she creates it.

When she is done she steps back feeling relieved, refreshed and renewed.  Not many people will walk by the painting.  But, if even one person sees the beauty in it, it is all worth it.” 

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So I had an interview with a street artist the other day.  I would say it went really well.  The perils of public transportation were working against me that day and despite being 20 minutes late to the interview, Magrela was very receptive and understanding. 

Maggie and Pericles.

Maggie, known by many as Magrela taken from the word magra which means thin, is a very down to earth person and the first “street artist” to respond to my requests for an interview.  Along with my roommate/translator Pericles, we met her at the Vila Madalena metro stop and proceeded to an empty, quaint café in the area.  

As the sun played peek-a-boo with the clouds, occasionally letting in little gasps of light, Maggie told me about her experiences and history with street art.  After studying finance for three years she decided to stop her schooling in 2007 and pick up street art as well as pursue other forms of art.  She owns her own clothing brand that features her unique art style as well as sings and writes poetry.  She has been drawing since she was a child and does not work with traditional canvas.  The streets are her canvas.

With the help of Pericles, we talked about street art for a little over 30 minutes.  We discussed about how the art allows her to express her emotions and the dangers, or lack thereof, of being approached by the police. 

“Oh! But officer, I did not know I could not paint here,” she says. 

When we finished our coffees she took us on a tour around the Vila Madalena neighborhood; a hip and trendy neighborhood of Sao Paulo.  Its steep hills and narrow streets occasionally allow for glimpses of the sprawling metropolis below and seemingly far off that is Sao Paulo.  Most streets are lined with artisan workshops, galleries and bars.  The bars look like a good time so I made sure to mark the location down of a few. 

A view from Vila Madalena

Walls and staircases are coated in street art.  Many resemble a Bohemian style of sorts; some are vibrant and abstract while others are portraits of famous figures and musicians. Maggie pointed out a wall that had the Ramones and medicine pills tagged all over it (I suppose they could have been other pills…).  To whoever can remember it, I imagine that the area can be reminiscent of New York City’s Greenwich Village in the 1960s.

Maggie with one of her pieces.

She pointed out some of her paintings she had done and described the different aspects of them.  One had crabs in it; painted for the area of the neighborhood the art was in called mangue (Mangrove).  Another was a collaboration piece done with three other artists when she first began tagging up walls and staircases.  A final piece she showed us was of a woman with a fish and a bull over a small town.  She enlightened us to the meaning. In short, the bull represents a man and the woman is nurturing him with the fish.  I do not think bulls eat fish but, I get the meaning and I believe the art has a simplistic exquisiteness to it; if such a thing exists.

Maggie, a Sao Paulo native, informed us about what influences her and described her unique style to us.  How she feels when she paints and the evolution of the woman she continuously adds to new areas of the city.  What I found interesting was that she told us she does not feel the need to practice “street art” when she is not in Sao Paulo.  That the problems, people, cars and industry pushes her to do what she does in her home city. 

Maggie's art on a wall in Vila Madalena

There is much more to say about our morning together but, I am working on a much larger article about the “Street Art in Sao Paulo.”  I am currently discussing the subject with an art museum curator in the city and I have another interview with a street artist/professor this coming Sunday.  So I will leave this post as it is; I do not want to give away everything just yet. 

If you are interested in some of Maggie’s art, here is her Flickr page.  Check it out and send her some love. 

http://www.flickr.com/photos/magritcha/

Perils of Public Transportation

                I think I had sex today.  Then again, I am convinced I have sex every time I ride the rail lines in Sao Paulo.  To say that forms of transportation in the city are congested is an understatement on par with, “There is corn in Nebraska.”  The trains, subway cars and busses in the city can get so crowded that it is not uncommon to grab the nearest arm, leg or ass to keep yourself from falling over.  Once the vehicle jerks forward or stutters to a stop, it ceases to be a commute and changes into an endeavor not to molest your fellow passengers.  However, getting around Sao Paulo is not just a rated G orgy.

                 Moving around Sao Paulo is great.  Even while congested to the point of feeling like a sardine in a tin, you can get anywhere in the city fairly expediently using one of many forms of transportation.  As they usually are; busses, trains, subways, motos and, if you can control your road rage, cars are all decent ways of getting a commuter from A to B. 

                The best part of moving around the city is that it is affordable.  When used with an electronic fair card, the public transportation network costs R$2.90, the equivalent to about US$ 1.50.  A rider can jump on and off any of the subway routes, train lines or busses for the next three hours for no additional charge while using that card.  Are you reading this WMATA? 

                By far the speediest and most effective way to get around this city is the motos.  These little bikes tear between the cars and busses, narrowly missing side view mirrors whilst leaning on their high pitched horns.  I think that the motorists often believe they are in a movie instead of real life.  Without a doubt, motos are responsible for the most traffic related deaths and accidents in Sao Paulo.  A fact that I have personally been witness to while stuck in a traffic jam on the highway. 

As my car rolled by a mangled bike, the ground littered with shards of metal and plastic, a white tarp covered the motorist’s lifeless body; his feet ominously sticking out from underneath.   I am told by many that this is not an unfamiliar site to bear witness to.  Many even seem desensitized of the site to the point where all it merits is a “tisk-tisk” or a shrug of the shoulders.

You can go anywhere.

                If risking your neck, quite literally, on motos is not your thing, the subway and trains with the use of your legs are exceptional ways to get around.  All of the trains interconnect frequently.  Many lines intersect one another at a station just to cross again two stations later and then again at the end of the line’s routes.  Check out the map; the word “extensive” does not do it justice. 

                The busses are also an excellent form of moving around.  According to the Lonely Planet’s guide book South America on a Shoe String, there are 1,333 bus routes in the main city itself.  The City of Sao Paulo’s website claims that there are “almost” 10,000 busses in service to transport people around the city per day.  Also, busses are fast, very fast.  My first ride on a bus felt more like a rollercoaster without seatbelts than it did a ride to the museum.  The driver hopped curbs, grated to halts and put the pedal to the metal on onramps, all the while as the old man standing next to me nonchalantly read his book.

This bus is actually rather empty...really.

                Last week during a rainy rush hour morning, a bus drove off an overpass and crashed into a train on the tracks below.  On a train line that I had just used an hour before.  The train’s conductor managed to pull the brakes in time and avoid annihilating the bus, thus avoiding any fatalities.  The passengers told news agencies that the driver was driving fast, the driver claims the road was slippery.  Here is an article pertaining to it.

Sky News Article about the bus on the tracks-Complete with video and pictures, click here.

                The public transportation system is not without its problems.  Along with an occasional flying bus, it can get crowded, as mentioned before.  In a city of 20 million though, what is one to expect?  I once observed a security guard help close a packed train car’s door by pushing on a guy until the door stopped closing on his arm and legs. 

Space is not easy to come by during rush hour.  Forget waiting for the people to get off the train when the car pulls into the station because of this.  If you want on, you better charge those getting off while throwing up an elbow to the others doing the same.  Don’t worry, as long as you aren’t stiff arming grandma no one seems to mind.

                Crime is also another problem that riders have to watch out for.  As you board a train or bus with your backpack, make sure you are wearing it on your chest or set it down between your legs.  You want to be able to see whose hands may be trying to pry open your zippers.  I personally go with the backpack on the chest, hand in the pocket along with the kung-fu death grip on my wallet method. 

                But you can’t let the negative aspects of transportation get to you.  No matter what country or city you are in.  How else will you see the museums, picnic in the parks or drink at the bars?  As well as moving you around a city, public transportation is a great way to take a few selfish moments and contemplate the day.

                On my daily train commutes, I use my 20 minute ride as a moment of Zen.  I have no control how fast the car moves nor can I change its path.  The ever-changing scenery passes by serenely to the click-clacking of the wheels on the tracks; bringing an irrepressible smirk to my face.  For those 20 minutes, everyone on the train, no matter who they may be, have no control of where they are going.  So they might as well just accept the fact that we are all on the same ride together, even if only for a little bit.  Just make sure you shower before you ride please.

The People of Sao Paulo

The people of São Paulo, Brazil are like M&Ms.  They are extremely tough on the outside; staring you down as you walk past, expecting you to show them the respect that they feel they deserve.  However, if you stop any one of them in the street and helplessly mumble that you need directions, their shells melt away and a grin replaces their ironclad grimace.
            I originally wanted to call this post “The People of Brazil,” but that would be unfair. Brazil has a multitude of diverse cultures that are intertwined with one another.  Seeing how I have not ventured past the outskirts of São Paulo, this post will be about the people that I have worked and lived with during my time here thus far.

          The people here, I can safely say, are some of the most welcoming people I have ever met. Upon my arrival to the international airport, I was supposed to meet one of my new roommates who would show me the way to my house. However, Perícles, whose name is so cool, was nowhere to be found.  I discovered an internet café at the airport and emailed him.  I told him that I had arrived and could not find him outside of the arrivals terminal.  Although agitated, I tried to kindly let him know that I would wait for an hour or so but then would find my way to a hostel in the center of the city, until we could meet up.   Little did I know, but he had already made the hour and a half commute to the airport and had returned home.  It seems Delta did not display that my flight was arriving hours late.  How I loathe that airline.  

Perícles immediately emailed me back and traversed the extensive public transportation system (a bus connection, one subway line and a train) to get back to me, just so he could teach me the way to my new home.  After our extensive and bewildering commute, we ended up in the city of Santo Andrè.  A pretty beat up city outside of São Paulo. 

Walking from the train station as my backpack seemingly gained two pounds with each step, he pointed out where to avoid at night (everywhere) as he attempted to teach me the basics of the Portuguese language. 

Ive waiting for the train.

That night, my six new Brazilian roommates and I shared our respective cultures over some drinks, as they made my bed and cooked me dinner.  Is there a better way to say, “Welcome to our home?”    

Brazil itself is host to an incredibly diverse population.  It is the world’s fifth most populated country with approximately 203 million people, according to the CIA’s webpage.  20 million of those people live in the greater São Paulo City metro area, making it the seventh largest city in the world by population and the largest on the South American continent, according to the City of São Paulo’s webpage.  

São Paulo even has a “Little Japan” that boasts a decently sized Japanese population.  “GiGi” Suzuki, one of my room mates, is one of them.  He possesses many of our Asian-American stereotypes too; poor and erratic driving, bad English grammar.  One of my favorite praises he says is, “I go toka showa.” 

GiGi, before he goes to "toka showa"

Other than the Japanese population, many of the people I have associated with are of European ancestry.  This is thanks, in part, to the Portuguese and Spanish coming here at the beginning of the fifteenth century.  Also, after Brazil abolished slavery in 1888, the population boomed with immigrants from Italy, Spain and other European nations, according to www.Brazil.gov.

In addition to making me feel like I have lived here for years, the people of São Paulo are very hard working.  My roommates are all diligent students and have part time jobs as well; one of them, Ive, talks about doing calculus without a calculator. 

A coworker at the Press Agency I am currently working at works 10-5, five days a week and goes to class four times a week.  Camilla claims that it is not much, but really, that is ludicrous.

I am looking forward to traveling to the various parts of the country and having conversations with people of other Brazilian ethnicity's.  São Paulo is a very industrial city that I feel helps shape those who live and work here.  I am curious as to how people from Brasilia and Rio de Janeiro are different.  I’ll make sure to post my findings as I navigate the country.
              Stay tuned.....next time, the perils of public transportation....