Unlike the rest of Brazil, the Southern region is wealthy – economically, socially and culturally. It received immigrants who have left their mark on the states. Germans, Azoreans, Austrians, Polish, Italian, among others. But Black and Indian blood also runs in the veins of the Southern people. Local stories go back to a time of slavery and war against the Spanish and the neighbours across Prata River. The proximity with the frontiers forges new fellings. The “gaucho” (regional cowboy) is a very peculiar man. Even the climate in the South is different. Santa Catarina and Rio Grande do Sul are the only states in Brazil where it sometimes snows. Paraná, which was colonized later, features the contradictions that come with progress. The Araucaria forests are almost extinct, vanishing among soy, pine and eucalyptus plantations. The people in the North and West of the state call this landscape a “green desert”. Fortunately, as in the rest of the country its artists reveal and express these mixtures and anxieties each in their own way, proving that the cultural and artistic diversity is one of the true patrimonies of our country.
Front of Derli Chapéu Preto’s house,
Nativity Scene (detail) Eli Heil,