Map no. 7 - Belem

Here is another finish.

This map is about Belem, where I stayed the summer I went to Brazil. There was a lot that I learned, plenty of experiences. One of the main things that stuck in my mind was the contrast of housing areas where people lived. On one end of a street were large houses with plenty of garden. As you went quite a ways further down the street it became dirt road. Then you carried on even more and came to a swampy area where there was a boardwalk and on either side were houses built on stilts in the water. Teaming with people.

In researching this recently, I learned these are favelas - although the term is for any slum area, not just the areas on water. So, this map shows the Favelas in the dark green. I stitched beads to write the word Favela on to that portion of the map. It is in another shade of green, you discover it by surprise. Just a reminder that there are lovely people living in the rickety houses perched over the murky waters.

This map was transferred using matt medium on a reversed image. I used fine point Sharpies to make the streets stand out again. The streets in the Favela area are not so straightforward due to the random characteristic of the houses.

I am linking this to Nina-Marie's Off the Wall Friday. If you are coming here from her blog, I also finished a couple other Maps this week. These are my journal quilts for 2013 with the Contemporary Quilt group. You can see it and the rest of the maps if you follow the link.