Brazilian photographer Raquel Brust returns once again to bring her project GIGANTO from Sao Paulo to London for the second time.

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Everything began in 2003. It was the first year of FLIP – Festa Literária Internacional de Paraty (Paraty International Literary Festival) – and despite the lack of pretensions on the part of the organisers, who were afraid of a huge fiasco, the event brought around 500 people to the historic and cobbled streets of Paraty.

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A strong economy and two huge events are truly revolutionising Brazil’s architecture – and cities!

Who hasn’t heard that slogan saying “Brazil’s the country of the future”? Because it seems to be getting ever more serious. Brazil has already become, at least, the talk of the town. No, I’m not talking about the World Cup that we didn’t win. But speaking of which, Brazil now has got much bigger concerns than keeping its football as art status. Host of the World Cup in 2014 and the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, the country is going through a period of great economic optimism and is readying itself for a future promising a real swathe of new investments, and it’s defining the country as a new world power. Read the full story

JD picks the best of the hottest event this summer: Southbank Centre’s Festival Brazil

It’s been a long time in the making and it wasn’t easy. Over 70 Brazilian events in the form of concerts, exhibitions, talks, films and performances are taking over the Southbank Centre. This summer-long festival is a combo of local Brazilian artists, classic names, and up-and-coming musical and literary voices. Mix this with a big dose of audience involvement and the line up might just transport you mentally a little bit closer to the shores of Brazil.

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The project that started out like child’s play and changed the life of a community

“In 1997, when I was 14, there were two paths I could’ve taken in life, but the wealth and respect promised by the world of crime appeared much more immediate. I created an alternative for myself”, recalls Cilan Oliveira, one of the founders of the social project ‘Morrinho’, in Rio de Janeiro. It was child’s play that made the dream of a new life tangible for Cilan, and for the community of the Pereira da Silva favela, more commonly known as ‘Pereirão’. “During that period my brother, Maycon Oliveira, and I began building a model of Pereirão with my father’s leftover construction materials. It wasn’t anything more than a bit of fun, to keep ourselves occupied and forget about the problems of our day-to-day lives”. Read the full story

Street art on the march

Q – How do elephants find each other in the dark?
A – Delightful!

Yes, elephants have been inspiring humans since time immortal – and they’re revered as symbols of good luck, wealth, prosperity and fertility in many different cultures all over the world. But now it’s time for us to show them some love and that’s why, this month, London’s nooks and crannies are playing host to over 250 baby Asian elephants. Read the full story

Down on Clerkenwell there’s a beautiful space filled with a mix of delicate artwork from three fascinating artists; the exhibition entitled ‘Magic beans’, which refers to their Anglo-Brazilian roots. Read the full story

Beginning on May15^th, a video installation and a short film about memory, namely nostalgia, by the Brazilian performance artist Bianca Turner, will take place at 16mm Deli & Café. The whole exhibition is based on the memory processes, codes and the genetics memory; Bianca developed the work Saray from a research trip in Sarajevo, where her family came from, in order to link her own past with the way our brain stores long term and short term memories. Read the full story

Get closer to the Yoruba culture around the world with an African afternoon at the British Museum. Yoruba is one of the largest ethnic groups in west Africa, predominantly in Nigeria, which with the African Diaspora spreads its beliefs and cultures to many countries of the world. Read the full story

This being his first solo UK show, Ramos has been developing the series over a great number of years, presenting large-scale sculptures, video, drawings and performance. Read the full story