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São Paulo resident transforms degraded area into urban forest

saopaulosecreto.com

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Re: São Paulo resident transforms degraded area into urban forest

#81

Post by embedding-shape »

rayiner wrote: post #72

Ugh, graffiti is really a crime against the built environment: https://offloadmedia.feverup.com/saopaulosecreto.com/wp-cont... . I've never been, but I remember they had a big push some years ago to ban outdoor advertising to reduce "visual pollution." Sao Paulo looks so clean and beautiful from Google Street View--it makes the ugliness of the graffiti really stand out. I can't comprehend the nasty mind that decides…

Eh, if anything, "human built drab concrete environments" is exactly what graffiti should cover and be used to fight, add a bit of color to life. Don't like it? Don't make it so boring and dull in the first place.

People who graffiti trees, stones and other natural elements are fucking cunts though, ruining nature's art with their shitty tags, that's really horrible behavior.

Re: São Paulo resident transforms degraded area into urban forest

#82

Post by whou »

rayiner wrote: post #72

Ugh, graffiti is really a crime against the built environment: https://offloadmedia.feverup.com/saopaulosecreto.com/wp-cont... . I've never been, but I remember they had a big push some years ago to ban outdoor advertising to reduce "visual pollution." Sao Paulo looks so clean and beautiful from Google Street View--it makes the ugliness of the graffiti really stand out. I can't comprehend the nasty mind that decides…

As a paulista, I actually like street graffiti in big cities, a lot of times I don't think they look ugly at all. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, I guess.

I think that skate park is even better with street graffiti. If I see a skate park like that one with no graffiti or any art whatsoever It'll just look bland, boring and ugly. The graffiti gives it beauty and personality, especially since it is very tied to skate culture.

I have the same feeling when seeing a dense metropolitan São Paulo center with tall buildings. It might not be pretty in every building, especially residential areas, for sure, but none at all is really ugly and bland. For my paulista heart, a lot of graffiti is what gives the city (or rather, state) its charm.

Re: São Paulo resident transforms degraded area into urban forest

#83

Post by gverrilla »

rayiner wrote: post #72

Ugh, graffiti is really a crime against the built environment: https://offloadmedia.feverup.com/saopaulosecreto.com/wp-cont... . I've never been, but I remember they had a big push some years ago to ban outdoor advertising to reduce "visual pollution." Sao Paulo looks so clean and beautiful from Google Street View--it makes the ugliness of the graffiti really stand out. I can't comprehend the nasty mind that decides…

There's a movie that might provide you some understanding. Pixo [0].

0: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt3135326/

Re: São Paulo resident transforms degraded area into urban forest

#84

Post by nottorp »

alister wrote: post #23
throwaway2037 wrote: post #9

Time of India is such a shit news source that it should be banned from HN. The ToI article is dated: 2026-08-01 In the article it says: > According to Forbes India, in 2003, Helio da Silva... I Google searched for "Forbes India, in 2003, Helio da Silva" and found the original here: https://www.forbesindia.com/article/lifes/crazy-tree-planter... Date? 2024-09-30 I guess ToI is having summer interns use LLMs to summari…

I wanted to copy and paste the name of the park from the Times of India article so I could see the location in Google Maps, but the Times of India injects their URL into anything you try to copy. Such antisocial behavior. And I can't believe that browsers (Firefox in my case) even permit this. Is there ever a legitimate web-design reason to override copy or Ctrl^C?

Most of the time the legitimat web-design reason for user hostile behaviour is marketing/monetizing/spyware.

Morally legitimate, you ask? :)

Re: São Paulo resident transforms degraded area into urban forest

#85

Post by jibcage »

rayiner wrote: post #76
jibcage wrote: post #74

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My hot take: as long as the artists (or vandals I suppose, depending on your point of view) are talented, I don’t actually mind. It adds a “lived-in” character to the space which I quite like. Defacing small business owners’ property is obviously a dick move but if you’re at an abandoned warehouse, skatepark, or waterfront, I say go nuts.

Defacing public property is worse. It's toxic individualism and self-expression. If people wanted to put up a mural, they'd collectively vote to do so. In a proper society, graffiti artists would face public punishment from the collective.

Is it really toxic individualism if there’s a (mostly healthy) subculture dedicated to it, though?

In a “proper society” we could pass around the talking stick to reach consensus on a whole grab bag of things.

I’m not a tagger myself, but I do think there is something poetically democratic about people participating in the public forum in this way. At least, beyond the four-letter words and flying dicks, anyways.

Re: São Paulo resident transforms degraded area into urban forest

#86

Post by squigz »

zemvpferreira wrote: post #48
embedding-shape wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> path through a ridge of hills using only a hammer and a chisel I know you put the numbers and everything, but I didn't quite grasp just what a monumentous task this was until I saw the image of the "path through a ridge": https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Link_between_Ghivra_... It is absolutely bananas (and wonderful!) what a single human can achieve with love, passion and determination.

I echo that sentiment but oppose the positive adjectives tied to his motivation. Rather I believe can be at our best when motivated by our dark emotions towards positive actions: Grief, rage, madness. Mr. Manjhi was compelled to this momentous thing after his world was torn apart by it. He persevered while the very people whose lives and whose children's lives he was improving mocked him. He worked for 20 years compe…

Grief, at least, is not necessarily a dark emotion. It is an inevitable part of love, which is itself almost always full of good and bad emotions.

"Misery is wasted on the miserable." https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wQTbkEeCTeM

Re: São Paulo resident transforms degraded area into urban forest

#87

Post by rayiner »

mx7zysuj4xew wrote: post #77
rayiner wrote: post #72

Ugh, graffiti is really a crime against the built environment: https://offloadmedia.feverup.com/saopaulosecreto.com/wp-cont... . I've never been, but I remember they had a big push some years ago to ban outdoor advertising to reduce "visual pollution." Sao Paulo looks so clean and beautiful from Google Street View--it makes the ugliness of the graffiti really stand out. I can't comprehend the nasty mind that decides…

It's a skatepark, skateparks have graffiti, it's art live with it

No, entropy is a choice: https://www.timeout.com/tokyo/sport-and-fitness/hlna-skygard...

Re: São Paulo resident transforms degraded area into urban forest

#88

Post by rayiner »

jibcage wrote: post #85
rayiner wrote: post #76

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Defacing public property is worse. It's toxic individualism and self-expression. If people wanted to put up a mural, they'd collectively vote to do so. In a proper society, graffiti artists would face public punishment from the collective.

Is it really toxic individualism if there’s a (mostly healthy) subculture dedicated to it, though? In a “proper society” we could pass around the talking stick to reach consensus on a whole grab bag of things. I’m not a tagger myself, but I do think there is something poetically democratic about people participating in the public forum in this way. At least, beyond the four-letter words and flying dicks, anyways.

Yes, because the subculture doesn't represent the majority. It's the opposite of "democratic"--it's a small group of people imposing their aesthetic on what you acknowledge is a "public form"--without the consent of the public.

"Democracy" isn't about individuals or small groups making their voices heard. That might be a necessary factor, but it's not the purpose. Democracy is about the majority having the right to create the kind of society they want to live in. Maybe people in Sao Paulo like the graffiti (or maybe not, since the ban on other types of visual pollution seems popular). But it's the majority's decision to make.

Re: São Paulo resident transforms degraded area into urban forest

#89

Post by rayiner »

embedding-shape wrote: post #81
rayiner wrote: post #72

Ugh, graffiti is really a crime against the built environment: https://offloadmedia.feverup.com/saopaulosecreto.com/wp-cont... . I've never been, but I remember they had a big push some years ago to ban outdoor advertising to reduce "visual pollution." Sao Paulo looks so clean and beautiful from Google Street View--it makes the ugliness of the graffiti really stand out. I can't comprehend the nasty mind that decides…

Eh, if anything, "human built drab concrete environments" is exactly what graffiti should cover and be used to fight, add a bit of color to life. Don't like it? Don't make it so boring and dull in the first place. People who graffiti trees, stones and other natural elements are fucking cunts though, ruining nature's art with their shitty tags, that's really horrible behavior.

Lots of people like the clean, subdued aesthetic. If they wanted "color" that's what they'd build. It's not for taggers to decide how much or little "color" a city should have.

Re: São Paulo resident transforms degraded area into urban forest

#90

Post by tiagod »

mx7zysuj4xew wrote: post #77
rayiner wrote: post #72

Ugh, graffiti is really a crime against the built environment: https://offloadmedia.feverup.com/saopaulosecreto.com/wp-cont... . I've never been, but I remember they had a big push some years ago to ban outdoor advertising to reduce "visual pollution." Sao Paulo looks so clean and beautiful from Google Street View--it makes the ugliness of the graffiti really stand out. I can't comprehend the nasty mind that decides…

It's a skatepark, skateparks have graffiti, it's art live with it

Right? This feels like complaining about people kneeling at the church.
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