40 years ago I went on my own to Belem, Brazil to visit missionary friends of my family. I had my 13th birthday while there. During the stay, we travelled a 3 day journey by coach to a small town in the central part of the country. (The coach itself was a real experience as it was somewhat primitive - the toilet was an open hole letting waste out onto the road!) This is the 2013 town map, the mission land is still able to be located, but I have been unable to tell if they are still the owners.
The streets and plots for housing are outlined with Pentel gel roller for fabric. I used a copy of the map and cut out all the little rectangles to make a stencil and marked the lines with pencil first.
I have positioned the map with North at the bottom and South at the top because I think the shape resembles a bird. To further connect the map to Brazil, I have coloured in the plots/blocks with the colours of the Brazilian flag using Triplus fineliners. It sort of resembles the colourful birds which can be seen in the rainforest.
The story and some memories have been quilted into the background using cream thread. This includes memories of a visit to a farm where sugar cane was crushed using an oxen powered press to obtain the juice.
Similar to this photo from South American Pictures.
After the juice was boiled down, the raw sugar was put into hollowed logs and buried in the ground for a certain length of time to 'flavour' it for brown sugar! I tried some which had been boiled down further to make sweets which were very good.
Here is a link to an interesting article which explains the process a bit better than I understood it as a 13 year old!
2 comments:
These maps are really cool looking.
Thanks Linda!
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