Jurubatuba

Reflexões sobre o Rio Pinheiros

COUNTRY: BRASIL
CITY: SÃO PAULO
YEAR: 2021 - 2022

In the colonial period, the river was called the Jurubatuba, from the Tupi term meaning a “place with many queen palm trees.” On its banks there was an indigenous village that the Jesuits called Pinheiros [Pines], after its many araucaria pine trees.

Valdir Cruz shows us the watercourses in the basin, including their mighty headwaters, thus reinforcing the urgent need for conservation. He also reveals hard realities and two faces of the Pinheiros: that of the current river, in a state of tension, and that of the future river existing as a potential.

Ana Cristina Carvalho Faggin

Wellspring

Rita Alves

Man is a source
a divine link between
the sky the dream and the river

Each day he transforms
misery into struggle
struggle into glory

Like a stone
that follows
the infinite course

The fountainhead that springs forth
the impermanence of life
between light and shadow

Forges the thirst in the
translucent image
where the fish is born

An ephemeral,
fleeting record of time
in the journey of the water

Nascente do rio Pinheiros – Serra do Mar
Jurubatuba Serie's
Photographed/2021, Paranapiacaba – SP

Rio Pardo, I Proximidades da nascente – Serra do Mar
Photographed/2021, Paranapiacaba – SP

Amanhecer – rio Pinheiros
Photographed/2021, São Paulo – SP

Cidade Jardim, II (margem sentido sul)
Photographed/2021, São Paulo – SP

Cidade Jardim, I (margem sentido sul)
Photographed/2021, São Paulo – SP

Paisagem Urbana (margem sentido centro)
Photographed/2021, São Paulo – SP

Usinas termoelétricas Piratininga (1954) e Nova Piratininga (2002)
Photographed/2021, São Paulo – SP

O luxo e o lixo
Photographed/2021, São Paulo – SP

Natureza morta, II
Photographed/2021, São Paulo – SP

Bica – Comunidade Mandioquinha
Photographed/2021, São Paulo – SP

Guiomar Conceição
dos Santos – Vila Clara

The sound of a voice can impress us, creating an impression of a person even before we can process what she is saying. Nevertheless, Dona Guiomar, whose low, delicate, and slighly breathless voice conveys an impression of fragility, is actually a giant and true fortress, a welcome surprise.

Born and raised in the community of Vila Clara, Guiomar is 58 years old. Her history with recycling began with the need to provide food for her daughters. Formerly an administrative worker in the Santa Casa de Misericórdia Hospital, at the end of her workday she would gather trash to sell as a means of supplementing her income and supporting her family. She was warned by the higher-ups at the hospital that if she continued to gather trash she would lose her job, as they felt it tarnished the institution’s image. So Guiomar Conceição dos Santos left Santa Casa Hospital and began her incredible career path.

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Guiomar Conceição dos Santos - Comunidade Vila Clara
Photographed/2021, São Paulo – SP

Liberdade - Comunidade Olaria
Photographed/2021, São Paulo – SP

Maria Aparecida
Falcão – Babilônia

Nega is one of those sunny personalities who, despite coping with life’s toughness, finds ways to smile, to have friends, partners, and ideas to celebrate and share life. Perhaps the best word that fits with her biography is “sharing.”

Her hoarse and powerful voice proudly tells how she was a cook for nearly 20 years in a company, and nevertheless did not manage to retire. It was her boss who constructed her house, and the house is the scene of her past and present path, as well as of her dreams for the future. The large cooking pots on top of a cabinet and a dilapidated industrial stove are reminders of how, each year on October 12, she prepares lunch for the hundreds of children in the community.

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Maria Aparecida Falcão (Tia Nega) - Comunidade Babilônia
Photographed/2021, São Paulo – SP

Esperança - Comunidade da Bica
Photographed/2021, São Paulo – SP

Comunidade Babilônia
Photographed/2021, São Paulo – SP

Daniel Almeida de
Santos Melo – Vietnã

Due to the stench of the polluted river, the women learn to cook with stronger spices to cover the bad smell and spread the pleasant aroma of scarce food around the house. Daniel says that every woman in the community cooks very well and thus manages to suppress the river’s odor with the alchemy of spices. In his rich statement, everything is symbolic and at the same time steeped with an incisive reality.

While undertaking social work in the community of Vietnã, which he saw as his mission, Daniel met his future wife, Isis, with whom he has raised five children. He is 56 years old, and has lived half his life in the community.

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Daniel Almeida de Santos Melo - Comunidade Vietnã
Photographed/2021, São Paulo – SP

Menina da Bica - Comunidade da Bica
Photographed/2021, São Paulo – SP

Lucicleide Doralice
da Silva – Vila Clara

When she was 12 years old, Lucicleide moved with her family from the city of Olinda, in Brazil’s northeast region, to São Paulo. They took up residence on Rua Marjorie alongside Cordeiro Creek, in the community of Vila Clara. Her mother Dona Estelita, was a fighter: acting as both father and mother of the family, she was a shining role model for Lucicleide.

It was her mother who had given her that name on her birth certificate,  gainst the wishes of her father, because she wanted her name to begin with an “L” just like that of all her siblings. But when Lucicleide came to São Paulo, she decided on her own to adopt the name given to her informally by her father—the name of Rita, which is how she is known by everyone in the community.

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Lucicleide Doralice da Silva (Rita) - Comunidade Vila Clara
Photographed/2021, São Paulo – SP

Córrego Souza Dantes - Comunidade Souza Dantes
Photographed/2021, São Paulo – SP

Trabalhador, II – Córrego Tanquinho - Comunidade Santa Clara
Photographed/2021, São Paulo – SP

Trabalhador, I – Córrego Engenho - Comunidade Jardim Mitsutani
Photographed/2021, São Paulo – SP

Córrego Engenho - Comunidade Jardim Mitsutani
Photographed/2021, São Paulo – SP

Jardineiro
Photographed/2021, São Paulo – SP

Entardecer
Photographed/2021, São Paulo – SP

Ponte Octávio Frias de Oliveira (Ponte Estaiada), I
Photographed/2021, São Paulo – SP

Ponte Octávio Frias de Oliveira (Ponte Estaiada), III
Photographed/2021, São Paulo – SP

Ponte Octávio Frias de Oliveira (Ponte Estaiada), IV (Detalhe)
Photographed/2021, São Paulo – SP

Paisagem noturna
Photographed/2021, São Paulo – SP