What next?

Joel will complete the third of the project's three murals with the young people in November 2011 as part of a Garden of Memories we are creating for Cidade de Deus in a corner of our church grounds. The Garden will feature a mural of the City of God - the New Jerusalem - foreseen by John in the Book of Revelation where 'there will be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, nor any more pain."

The City of God Garden of Memories will also feature scenes of the people and events that have formed the story of Cidade de Deus since it was built 45 years ago. Now we just need to set to work to raise the money!

If you would like what has been begun in the City of God Bible Mural Art Project to continue and could think about making a donation or helping to raise funds please contact me at priestmissioner@gmail.com

Get this party started

Bishop Filadelfo, the Anglican Bishop of Rio de Janeiro, was amongst the first to arrive for the party and talked to Joel about his work in poor communities across the world before the two posed for a photograph in front of Jesus at the Last Supper.

Parents and friends of the young people packed the church and the celebration soon got under way with a demonstration of capoeira - an Afro-Brazilian martial arts dance - by children from Projeto Rei.

Joel and Socorro, president of the Seed of Life Association, and I explained how the project had been conceived before the young people gave a blow by blow account of what they'd done.

Some told the stories behind the murals, some showed off the English words they learnt and others thanked Joel for all he had taught them.

Then it was out into the church grounds where Bishop Filadelfo blessed each of the murals and sprinkled them with holy water.

 But we were all swiftly back in church for refreshments which included hot dogs and a huge cake.

Making a song and dance of it

Young people from Projeto Rei stage a demonstration of capoeira, an Afro-Brazilian martial arts dance...

Race to the finish

Joel got up at the crack of dawn for an uninterrupted day of painting. With the bishop coming to bless the murals at 6pm there was a deadline to meet. The young people spent the morning hanging their own artwork in church in readiness for the project's closing event to which their families and friends had been invited.

At the end of each session, each of the young people got to have their photograph taken personally with Joel.

Speak up!

Joel and I have been very impressed by the young people's talents but, perhaps like many teenagers, they struggle to overcome their embarrassment to speak well in public. So we spent part of today's sessions writing scripts and trying to discover our best voices for Friday's project finale when every member of the group will say something before the assembled crowd.

The perfect blend

Every day the young people are brought to us by adult volunteers who belong to the Seed of Life Association. Whilst the children work they set about producing food for the snack time which ends each session. Today Katia produced a delicious banana vitamin drink.

Everyone has now completed their own big picture of either the Garden of Eden, the Last Supper or the City of God. Eric and Karen were the first to finish.

Then there was the chance for an individual coaching session with Joel who gave each of the young people feedback on what they had done. It´s been a showery day and Joel has had to stop painting more than he wants to when tomorrow is the last day. It´s going to be a race to the finish.

Mind your language

Tuesday began with an English lesson. With the World Cup and the Olympic Games on their way to Rio de Janeiro in the next few years more and more children are leaning English at school. We learnt the words for the colours Joel has been using on the murals and some of the objects that feature in them.

When Joel came to the City of God for three months last year he spent his time teaching English at a local arts association so all this was second nature. However, it wasn´t so straightforward for the young people who had to cope not just with the differences between a British and an American accent but even several different ways of spelling words.

Master class

It´s not every day that you get the chance to watch an international artist at work so today we gave the young people the opportunity. They saw Joel lay the details of the mural on top of the painting that they had done the previous week. As you might timagine the group were fascinated by the spray cans and everyone wanted a go but they readily sat down for half an hour observing the master.



Everyone was invited to write an account of what they were watching. Ádriano wrote: ´I am enjoying Joel´s classes very much because he is such a nice person and it´s very good to be able to learn to paint. And he´s not just teaching us to paint but to do grafitti art and design. I want to try harder to be able to do things like Joel is doing. I didn´t really enjoy drawing before but I´m beginning now to really like it.´

One group member enjoyed it so much that he couldn´t resist taking a can of spray paint when nobody was looking and daubed the name of ´Jesus´on a nearby tree. He didn´t get told off exactly but it was an opportunity to talk about respect!

Perhaps Julio put it best: ´Today i could see what art can do. Art is a very precious gift especially if you are a good artist. I really love this course because we can learn what true art is. Congratulations, Joel! May you be able to share your art with many more young people. You can be an inspiration to them.´

 

Sunday best

The sun shone brightly today and Joel was able to work again. During the morning service he gave the congregation a report on the project's first week before getting down to business with spray paint. It was extraordinary to watch the rapid transformation of the initial painting with a few squirts from a can.
















Some of the Sunday School children were keen to lend a hand as it all seemed rather more exciting than a colouring book. Later Joel sat down to eat with members of the congregation for our monthly community lunch and made another attempt to discuss what the forbidden fruit should be .

By the end of the afternoon the Tree of Life was nearly copmplete and passers-by have started to stop and stare.

Rain stops play

It's Saturday and Joel has the chance to begin working on the detailing of the murals without the young people to teach. But torrential rain has put a stop to his plans and precious time is lost. We only have six more days to get things finished.

Adam's apple

Joel sketched out the Garden of Eden today after researching Brazilian animals and plants he plans to incorporate in the mural. Brazil is said to be the most biodiverse county in the world so Joel's making sure this work reflects that. He's still not sure whether or not to paint an apple.

Pictures at an exhibition

As well as helping Joel paint the murals, the young people are being given the chance to paint their own version of either the Garden of Eden, the Last Supper or the City of God. Their pictures will be part of an exhibition that we will be staged at the end of the project.

To help them make up their minds which picture they will each paint, we began today by looking at the Bible texts and thinking about the stories they told. There was a great debate about whether the fruit Adam and Eve ate was actually an apple.

Then it was on to painting the mural of the Last Supper. Some of the teenagers got more paint on themselves than they got on the wall but that's another story! Others turned their hand to painting the Garden of Eden wall white ready for Joel to start sketching.

Let's go on with the show!

Overnight we found a local builder who saved the day. He quickly got hold of the sand and cement and within hours had replastered the walls and left them as good as new so that the next day's activities could go ahead as planned.

Disaster strikes...

Soon after the afternoon group left for the day, cracks started to appear on the wall they had been cleaning. It quickly became clear that two large sections of plaster were going to have to be removed where damp had got into the brickwork. If we did nothing we would run the risk of the wall collapsing at any moment and Joel´s work being ruined. We had been planning a mural of the Garden of Eden but it looked like turning into the walls of Jericho that came tumbling down! As the sun set on what had been a great day we now faced a big setback.

The young ones

Thirty young teenagers turned up today to work with Joel on the project. They come from ASVI - a local children´s charity. In Brazil children go to school either in the morning or the afternoon so half the group arrived at 9am before classes and the other half at 2pm after classes. Each session began with the teenagers introducing themselves before they were given a tour of the church building and an introduction to the project´s aims and objectives.


















Joel asked each of the young people to draw a simple picture so he could get an idea of their artistic skills before they got down to the task of preparing the wall that will be home to the Garden of Eden mural. At the end of each
session there was a banana for everybody!

Joel's Last Supper

Joel's been busy sketching out the Last Supper today in readiness for the young people who will arrive tomorrow to start painting. I asked him what he was trying to achieve:

"My version of the Last Supper is influenced by the original biblical story and, as it was a celebration of the Passover, includes images from the Exodus from Egypt. However, the scene is not simply a replica of the Gospel account but instead features a typical Brazilian family in the City of God. In this way I intend to address the story's original themes of liberation and redemption in a contemporary context that relates to local residents' lives."

Project launch

Launching the project on the day Brazil went to the polls to elect a new president was never going to be the best time to get everyone together. Voting is compulsory here and many people have to travel a long way to where they're registered.
                                                                                                                 
But in the circumstances we managed a good turnout from the congregation who heard Joel and Socorro, President of the Seed of Life Association, a local children's charity which is providing young people for the project, tell their stories.

At the end of the celebration the tins of spray paint were blessed and Joel lunched with Dora, our churchwarden, and her family, and discussed which Brazilian animals and plants to include in the Garden of Eden mural.