THE MAKING OF A DESERT

The making of a desert (Como se faz um deserto) is a project that brings together records of a trip made through the hinterlands of Brazil and a selection of texts approaching the region through different characteristics.

The work began with a journey through the region to understand what would define the backlands of Brazil both in cartographic terms (via the analysis of maps) and linguistic and historical aspects.
The publication gathers documentation of the work process and essays by the authors Janaína Amado, Gonçalo M. Tavares, and research by Ângela Ferreira, Yuri Simonini, and George Dantas, texts that were fundamental to the formation of contemporary thought about the Brazilian hinterlands.

The making of a desert is the record of this research and the dialogue with curator Cristiana Tejo, who goes back to the project’s origins and the working process. The artist Vitor Cesar built visual discourse with graphic design, fundamental to the book.

The project was realized with the support of FUNARTE’s Visual Arts Production Grant (Bolsa Estímulo à Produção em Artes Visuais) in 2013.