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Jonatan Garcez Feitosa was born in São Luís, in 1966. Son of a topographer, he used to help his father. “I used to carry all his stuff and camp with him in the middle of the forest. Back then I already enjoyed drawing, and by measuring the land bit by bit I realised I wanted to work with my hands. At first I considered wood, but changed my mind.”
“In 1994 I started working with clay at Luiz Carlos Santos’ workshop. I learned a lot.” Today Jonatan has his own workshop at home. His favorite themes are regional festivals. “At first one of the carnival characters, Fofão, used to be made with a mask made of socks and a small nose. Then the papier maché was discovered and the masks became more colourful, more fun. The old people say that the carnival started as a street party and Fofão was a kind of jester. When I was a child I loved playing with him. There are other characters such as Cazumba who resurrects the ox (Boi-Bumbá). He’s a mixture of human and animal and carries a bell. He’s a kind of clown that wards off evil spirits. There are many other local festivals. And that’s the kind of thing I like to do.” |
