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It all started with a rose bush Estevão Silva da Conceição refused to cut down. “It was back in 1999, when I was tidying up my house. I decided to make a grid to support the plant. As it grew, I elevated the whole garden. And as the garden grew I dug out the rose bush and took it to the very top.” Estevão was born in Santo Estevão (BA) in 1957 and moved to São Paulo in 1977 in search of work and a better life. “I’ve worked as a bricklayer, night watchman, and now I’m a cleaner and a gardener. I came to Paraisópolis shanty town in 1985. I’ve built a garden with things that I’ve bought in bazaars and junk shops. My house and the garden take up the whole plot of land I own.” His work became famous when the Gaudí Foundation took him to Barcelona to see the work of the Catalan master. “I thought it was beautiful, and it’s a shame I don’t have enough space to make all the things I’ve imagined making since going to Barcelona.” His work is similar to Gaudí’s in its irregular columns, full of branches that according to Estevão “are like those of trees”. His mosaics are sculptures where saints are given altars, and each corner is populated with characters that make visitors dream up stories. Estevão isn’t an architect, has never studied and doesn’t need models to make his work. It emerges from his subconscious, as he bends the iron and fills the spaces with cement, bits of china, and whatever else he finds. Estevão’s house, known as the House of the Decorated Stone, is integrated to the garden. He lives there with his wife and two kids, under ceilings filled with stars and walls decorated in such a way that each room is unique and magical. |
