Morro da Providência

Morro da Providência, Rio de Janeiro's oldest favela, was undergoing large-scale demolition in 2012 as the city built infrastructure for the 2014 FIFA World Cup and the 2016 Olympic Games; nearly a third of its homes were marked for removal, displacing hundreds of families. Over a month, Vhils and his team listened to residents' stories, then carved portraits of those forced to leave directly onto the exposed walls of their former homes. The portraits asserted the community's continued presence at the moment its physical structures were being erased, extending Scratching the Surface into a form of civic engagement that amplified voices at risk of exclusion from the city's future.