Covering buildings throughout Sao Paulo, pixacao is a style of graffiti native to Brazil and known for its simple, angular lines. It emerged out of the poorest parts of Sao Paulo (the favelas) somewhere between 1982-1984, The first pixadors (writers) were heavy metal fans inspired by the logos of such bands as Iron Maiden, Black Sabbath, Slayer...
Our personal experience when travelling to Sao Paulo in 2007 was the undeniable presence of pixacao. At first it was quite overwhelming and visually disruptive, but like many things we don't understand, that initial apparent ugliness of it all began to fade and reveal something quite extraordinary.
"Nobody cares about them (the poor), nobody sees them, they are invisible. When somebody does something like that (pixacao) they are saying, 'I'd rather you hate me, than ignore me.' " We can understand that.
Tour the city streets with Joao Wainer, photographer and co-director of a documentary on the subject, who fills us in on the culture and history in this episode of Cool Hunting Video.
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