Santa Marta
One of Rio’s bleakest neighborhoods now has a permanent rainbow, thanks to the Jeroen Koolhaas and Dre Urhahn. The neighborhoods are part of their project “O Morro” (which literally translated means “the hill” but really signifies the presence of “the slum”). The Dutch artists have enlisted the community to transform the facades of 34 houses (about 7,000 square meters!) into a colorful community. The local residents received a small salary for helping (the painting took about a month) and an education in the production process.
Koolhaas and Urhahn, who have been painting favelas for the past two years as part of a greater initiative to transform the hillside slums into places that residents are proud to live in, plan to return to Brazil to finish painting the entire hill.
