Locals Paint 7000 Square Metres of Slums in Rio

Overview

Art changes lives, but the results are not usually as obvious as those of the Tudo de Cor para Santa Marta project in Brazil.

The community of Santa Marta, in the heart of Rio de Janeiro, teamed up with Dutch artists Haas and Han (code for Jeroen Koolhaas and Dre Urhahn) to turn some 7, 000 square metres of hillside slum into a new monument for the community.

In making the project, locals were taught everything from identifying different paint types to safety measures on scaffolding, receiving an education in painting as well as a paycheck.

The result of a month's work was a huge artwork that spanned over 34 houses - but the artists want to attract enough funds to return to Rio later this year and continue working on the project until an entire hillside favela has been painted up.

Art changes lives, but the results are not usually as obvious as those of the Tudo de Cor para Santa Marta project in Brazil.

The favela community of Santa Marta, in the heart of Rio de Janeiro, teamed up with Dutch artists Haas and Han (code for Jeroen Koolhaas and Dre Urhahn) to turn some 7,000 square metres of hillside slum into a new monument for the community.

In making the project, locals were taught everything from identifying different paint types to safety measures on scaffolding, receiving an education in painting as well as a paycheck.

The result of a month's slog was a huge artwork that spanned over 34 houses - but that's not enough for the ambitious artists. They want to attract enough funds to return to Rio later this year and continue working on the project until an entire hillside favela has been painted up.