Having recently arrived to Rio de Janeiro in 1997, at the age of 14, Nelcirlan Souza de Oliveira was impressed with the landscape, architecture and atmosphere of the favelas that spanned the city. He decided to playfully reproduce this reality in his own backyard with bricks and paint that were leftover from his father’s work in construction. As he began to build this urban playground, it quickly caught the attention of several other local boys. From then on, what began as mere child’s play became an outlet for the boys to not only have a safe and fun place to hangout, but to create their own reality beyond that. In Morrinho they built the city and the favelas as they knew them, and they played out life as they saw it unfolding around them – all of the good and the bad of favela life.
In 2001, film directors, Fábio Gavião and Markão Oliveira visited the community and saw an opportunity to not only tell the boys’ story, but to allow the boys to tell it themselves. They began to train the teens in camera and editing work, and helped them film their own videos of the stories that played out at Morrinho. Team Morrinho now works as professional cameramen and film editors. Beyond that, the filmmakers chronicled critical years in Project Morrinho’s growth as it became known as an art exhibit and gained attention nationally and internationally.
In recent years, the group has exhibited smaller scale replicas of the Morrinho model throughout Brazil and Europe, including the Urban World Forum in Barcelona (2004), Point Ephémère in Paris (2005), and the Venice Biennale (2007). The unique character and innovation of the Morrinho model has been recognized by curators and critics as a legitimate expression of contemporary art, and continues to draw international attention from journalists, architects, musicians, scholars, and tourists.
In 2008, after seven years following Morrinho and the lives of its creators, Gavião and Oliviera released the full-length documentary titled "Morrinho: God Knows Everything But Is Not A Snitch.” The film has helped to publicize Morrinho, it’s mission, and the simple truth of what heights a group of youth can rise to with creativity and internal drive, no matter their level of education or socioeconomic status.
