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Divino Alves Faleiros was born in Uruana (GO) in 1958. His family used to work on a farm and in 1968 they moved to Brasília (DF). “We moved in search of better schooling, and I ended up staying. I worked as a bricklayer and when there was no job I managed in other ways. I used to make pictures using coloured thread. One day Mr. Manuel Aires asked whether I wanted to learn how to work with buriti palm tree leaf stalk. And so I started watching him work. It was good work, because all I needed was a small knife. Later, I met Mr. Quinca and loved the totems he made. I tried to copy one, but it wasn’t the same”. From 1985 Divino started working seriously with buriti palm stalks. “But it was a tough time, I almost gave up”. He only went back to work with this material in 1999, after securing a job in the public sector. “But I don’t work with buriti palm tree leaf stalk as a hobby. I do it because I need to, and my wife and daughter help me by painting the pieces. I always try to develop new things, like a clock, and right now I’m trying to make a parrot. But the most popular pieces are the totems, which are very different from the ones Mr. Quinca used to make. The hat is different and the faces are square”. |
