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Evaldo Davi was born in Curitiba (PR), in 1957. While still a child he moved with his parents to Ilha das Cobras (PR) and says he learned to swim before he could walk. His mother was a teacher but she always worked with retail trade and his father was in the army. Davi – as he is known – grew up on Ilha do Mel, left to study and returned. “I had to try something around here. I started making craft art, which runs in the family. Everything I found I would transform. I’ve been called a jail bird, a madman, a vulture (for collecting stuff on the beach) but I never cared. It’s the way I am. I make things for myself and I’m happy when people pay for them and take them away.” Davi works in the rhythm of nature. “If it’s straw season, that’s what I use. If it’s a gourd, I make faces on it, and if it’s bamboo I make something else.” Transforming everything he finds he makes insects with scrap wire and seeds, necklaces with crab claws and the faces seem to look at us trying to say something. Only Davi knows what they are thinking. At his restaurant they observe who comes in and out. “Look around. I’m sure you’ve seen someone who looks like that.” |
