something very cool!

So, I keep coming back to ideas from when I was in Brazil in 1973. I want to make a piece based on the favelas in Belem where the houses were on stilts over water.

My husband found the slides I took when I went there. My dad insisted on slides because then I could show them to groups...but after showing them to a few groups, this is probably the first time I have seen them in 40 years! They are in pretty great condition.

We have a couple little slide viewers, so it was amazing to see those images that still remain in my memory like snapshots. I guess I chose the right things to get photos of!

So, the very cool bit...
I worked out a way to get a photo of the slides through one of the slide viewers! Okay, not so great a photo, but for now, I can refer to the photos of the favelas for the work I am doing. My husband says his scanner will do slides, so I will get him to do some better ones for long term/easier access.

Here is a photo of the slide of the house where I stayed in Belem. It was a guest house for the organisation. My parent's friends ran the guest house where people stayed while they waited for barrels to get through customs and where they stayed when they came to purchase several week's supply of food and basics to take back into the interior where they were working.

Earlier in the year I posted a photo found on the internet of the equipment used to get the juice from sugar cane. This was near Vianopolis where I had travelled to from Belem with the family I stayed with.
Here are photos of my slides of the sugar cane press and how it was 'powered'.

Sugar cane was crushed between the cylinders. The juice ran into the bowl. This was boiled down for syrup, then to the point it crystallised. Then it was placed in a hollow log and buried. I wrote about that in the post I linked to above.

This is the harness for the animals who turned the press.

The 'pile of sticks' are actually a pile of the cut sugar canes.

This is the sort of oxen they used to turn the press.

I was surprised at the type of cattle, having associated this type with India prior to the visit.

I will show you some photos of the favelas another time. I want to get to work on this piece (I have begun the background) and get it finished first. It will be a combo of memory, photo reference, and artistic choice, so I don't want to be trapped into an idea by posting the photos here yet.