Project

In the old days in Brazil, being a child was different to what it is today.
What has changed in the lives of Brazilian children if we compare
the reports of previous centuries to our present?
What remains?

This project is a journey through the history of Brazil to discuss not only the past, but also the present of people’s most important phase: the childhood. Here, it is portrayed through moments in the lives of Brazilian  children throughout the more than 500 years of its history, from the beginning of its colonisation to the present days.

Brazilians are now used to the idea that they live in a young country. The country, however, is inevitably growing up and leaving its childhood behind. But growing up does not mean leaving our childhood aside. It is always going to be part of us because it is a fundamental part in everybody’s life. It is a period of experimentation, learning, discoveries, achievements and, why not, sadness. After all, the adult is sketched in it, the complete citizen that is part of our society.

We have come to a point where it is paramount to look back and reflect on our path to understand where we came from, what we have become and think of our future as a nation, or simply as individuals inserted in a community or a family cell.

I am a comic-book artist who rediscovered my own childhood after becoming a father. In order to better understand it, I have decided to travel through time and my art. My challenge in this work is to shed a light on the past to reflect on our present through comics, which I have decided to divide into six chapters that will be published during six months on this website. In order to talk about the topics, historian Claudia Moreira, who did the research and consultancy of the project, backed me up. She helped the project to keep truthful to the history of the different times, locations and customs that were portrayed.

I invite you to embark on this journey through childhoods that make up the history of Brazil!