Exhibition: Project Morrinho

Project Morrinho is a social and cultural project from the Laranjeiras neighbourhood of Rio de Janeiro, where local youths built intricate models of the favelas they grew up in.

As part of our Brazil season, Project Morrinho will be creating a model favela in the Horniman Gardens.

The very first Morrinho model, designed by local youths in 1997, is a 320m² model of the city and its favela, constructed from bricks and other recycled materials. It began as a simple childhood game to escape from the realities of violence and corruption that surrounded the teens and their community.

Morrinho has increasingly garnered attention for its aesthetics and ingenuity of its young creators, growing from a local phenomenon to an international project. It has been able to use this attention to evolve, not only as a work of art, but also into an organization for social change. Currently, more than 20 teenagers are following in the example of Morrinho’s founding members.