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João Manoel da Silva arrived in Mato Grosso do Sul in 1958. He came from Santana de Ipanema (AL) with his family, who were all going to work on a farm. He worked the land, built fences, and observed his father who was a carpenter. “He used to make mortars and pestles, pans, mostly utensils, but sometimes animals as well.”
After retiring from farm work he went to the city and at 40 years of age started working as a night watchman. “Time didn’t seem to pass, so I started getting pieces of wood to make things with. The first things to come into my head were the animals I saw every day.”
The clean lines of his work surprise those who don’t know about his life. “I work from memory because I’ve always lived among these beasts. I say with pride that I’m from Mato Grosso, it doesn’t matter if it’s South or North’. Today, at 68, he proudly shows off a design diploma which he was awarded 2 years ago after attending a course he didn’t really need. “I learned something I already knew: the quality of the finish is very important. The rest wasn’t very useful because everything I make is inside my head. But for someone who never studied, I can now say I have a diploma.” |
