Sculptures from a Vulnerable Society

Sculptures from a Vulnerable Society it is the second chapter of a main project - Studies on the Dignity of the Human Person, which are fragments of the current political-socio-economical scenario in Brazil. Specifically, the images were taken on Paulista Avenue and surroundings, where I live and walk daily - a wealthy neighborhood and one of the main financial districts of the city of Sao Paulo. In this chapter II, my studies have focused on the pictures I have been taking of people who take shelter on the streets, totally wrapped in fragile materials to protect themselves, such as black plastics, blankets or paper boxes. We are not able to see their bodies and immediately recognize them as human beings, except when they rarely move. This scenario draws attention to a very fragile human condition that is called *social vulnerability, but is daily ignored and neglected by neighbors and the public power. On my digital paintings over these images, I conceptually intend to reveal opposing feelings caused by their actual status. Representing them as singular sculptures, I seek to restore some human essences to them which in fact have been loosened by the time in society, such as representativeness and Identity. [ Identity is something that define us, give us directions and value and takes years to form ] * social vulnerability is the concept that characterizes the condition of groups of individuals that are losing their representativeness in society. They are found in marked decline of basic well-being and in human rights.