AVENIDA SÃO JOÃO

 

This strange and beautiful photo, taken by a photographer called Danilo Verpa, appeared in a Brazilian newspaper a few weeks ago.

There’s a kind of magic to things that catch you somewhere between believing them and not believing them. It’s an effect that reading a book can have, and other kinds of art too. You can get caught between belief and disbelief watching animated films or puppet theatre. What’s in front of you seems real, but then again you know that it’s not…

What does the photo show? Avenida São João, not very far from where I’m living in São Paulo. It’s a famous avenue leading to the city’s centre. As part of an urban festival called BaixoCentro, 200 litres of paint were poured across the road.

So this time what’s in front of you may seem unreal…but actually it’s not!

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1 comment for AVENIDA SÃO JOÃO

  1. Milla says:

    I’m fascinated by this too. I think it’s what Coleridge called the “willing suspension of disbelief.” I did a Puppetry Performance workshop recently at the Little Angel Puppet Theatre in Islington. The thing that really struck me was how the puppeteer becomes completely invisible. You know they are there. But you ignore them because you choose to immerse yourself in the belief that the old feather pillow they are holding is, in fact, a strutting chicken with a pecking beak. Sometimes there’s such a child-like joy in deliberately letting go of reality.

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