JOSELY CARVALHO
multimedia artist
History: cannon 3 - SIGA nº 015916
This cannon stood at the Real Forte Príncipe da Beira, built in 1775 on the banks of the Guaporé River in Rondônia, Brazil. Located in a strategic position on the border with Bolivia, that fort — today in ruins — is considered the largest Portuguese structure built outside Europe during the colonial period.
At the time, other forts were built on the borders as part of an Amazon colonization project designed by the Portuguese prime minister Sebastião José de Carvalho e Melo, the 1st Marquis of Pombal. The colonizers also embraced a policy of "civilizing" the natives, removing them from the tutelage of the Jesuit missionary orders and integrating them into the white population. New legal measures prohibited their enslavement and made them salaried workers, which, despite seeming advantageous, further attacked their way of life, their traditions and their mores.
Throughout history, indigenous communities have been threatened by the exploitation of their territories, by slavery, and by epidemics of diseases introduced by the colonizers. In 2020, during the countrywide quarantine, loggers, prospectors and land grabbers took advantage of the lack of supervision and pursued their illegal activities even more aggressively in conservation areas. These persons act as the main vectors of diseases that invade regions where health services are scarce or nonexistent, as is the case in the forests.
In 2020, in the midst of the Covid-19 pandemic, in the same Rondônia where the Real Forte Príncipe da Beira is located, one of the indigenous peoples who inhabit the state, the Suruí, had to act on their own initiative — without the support of institutions — to close access to their lands and prevent the virus from entering their territory.
smell: Rainforest PBX00014NM
Known and loved by most people, the smell of wet earth after a rain is basically the odor of geosmin, a product of bacteria and algae that becomes evident in the air after water enters the soil. Scientists have found that it is because of geosmin that camels are able to find water in the desert. Thanks to the discovery and use of synthetic ingredients that replicate natural ingredients, we were able to interpret faithfully this iconic smell of the rainforest.
We suggest the green aspect by combining lentisque leaf oil from Morocco and galbanum oil with the wetness of the geosmin that predominates in the forests, while offering a subliminal contrast between flowery and aqueous. We also added patchouli, a powerful, woody smell that incarnates rustic exuberance.
The jungle is home to many organisms. That is why the smell Rainforest tries to be faithful to the purity of nature and to reflect on how this large green shelter is simultaneously being cared for and gravely threatened.