Cool People To Meet In Brasil
Series 1;The MPV (Mau'a Pra Vida) Crew
Story and Photos by G.Melesaine
I think Im high off of aerosol right now. Its not allergy season but my nose been running ever since we landed here. A cidade que nunca dorme, thats portuguese for The City That Never Sleeps. Sao Paulo,BrasilÊis known for many things, fast moving,pollution, favelas and its street art. Their street art is no comparison to America, imagine ifÊVan Gogh or Picasso had children who ran wild with spray paint throughout the night, that is Sao Paulo. The "rua" (street)Ênames were difficult to learn that for the first week I began to remember directions by the pieces and throw-ups.Its a beautiful thing.
Actually I can't explain this place, it leaves me in constant thought of words to define it. I'd just say for someone who've been blind all their life, to experience vision in color here is at a different level. Its own. One who has been blind all their life will probably be satisfied with a minute of sight in Sao Paulo. I had a chance to be around a majority of the main artists of Sao Paulo, the MPV crew whom I spent more time with reciprocating our differences in culture as well as our similarities were probably the most genuine people you could everÊmeet in life. Its funny because in America alot of writers wear masksÊbutÊin Sao Paulo pollution blankets theÊcity's atmosphere that aerosol isn't really thatÊserious for you to cover your face with a sars mask.
ÊI watched Bone,Êlight a ciggaretteÊwhile he got lostÊsomewhere in between imagination andÊcolor. He stared at the wall,stared at his sketchÊthat he would edit in between time, then heÊgripped the can,put pressure on the tip ÊandÊbegan toÊdance with the wall. Every ten minutes or so he would stepÊback as if he seen something that existed on that wall that only he couldÊbe able toÊpaint. Walking up to me he putÊone of his earphones in my left ear "voce saber?"Ê.
It wasÊAmerican, englishÊlyrics, something funky. You know?, he asked me in portuguese, lately my stay in Brasil as far as music goes was quite embarassing. I was asking them if they knew who Lil' Wayne was and they were asking me about The Meters. "Nao mas eu gusto, que?" I was getting lessons from Brasilians on American originalÊfunk.ÊI wishÊhe knew about hyphy so I can tellÊhim it was dead, but he and the rest of Brasil listened to good classic american music.
Japa the youngest of the group placed his earphone in my ear, I recognized the song,Ê"system of a down, eu saber". Japa who spoke a little english began to teach me the good portuguese that noone taught me, the curse words. It would always come down to curse words as being the fun part of language, I don't know why but maybe its a part of an excuse to say keepingÊyour youthful vitality was to beÊimmature, but fuck it immaturity to a degreeÊis entertaining and learning curse words that I hope to use back in America was fun. Japa wroteÊnotes for meÊto take back so I would remember. I kept the curse words in my backpack the rest ofÊmy stay there hoping that I could use it onÊsomeone,it .
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never came around.I asked Kel, the girlÊin the group if there were alot of female graff writers in Sao Paulo.ÊIn Sao Paulo there is alot of machismo which makes women there fight even harder to make them self exist in the culture there. There is a huge womens movement there where the women help eachother bring eachother up.
Chilling with all the graff writers that I did, I wondered why most of them were broke with that much talent. Bone told me "we just paint because we love to paint,we don't want money". In Sao Paulo people are against the marketing of art that last week a group of 30 Pixadores stormed the Choque Cultural Gallery in protest against the "marketing, institutionalization and domestication of Street Art" by the galleries and media.
