cartola

When the great sambista Cartola, one of the founders of the samba school Mangueira, died, I decided to create a poster in his honour. It was also my graduation project at FAUUSP. I did the whole process by hand, including screen-printing 7 colours. Soon afterwards, I went to Rio de Janeiro to sell it. I set up my little stand at a Dona Zica e a Velha Guarda gig (Dona Zica being Cartola’s widow and also a veteran samba musician of Mangueira). Everyone loved the poster but I kept hearing a sly chuckle that I didn’t understand. When I decided to ask, the explanation was: “it just had to be a Paulista to portray Cartola in Portela’s colours!!!” (Portela being Mangueira’s archrival).  This faux pas haunted me for over 30 years until the opportunity to fix the design came and I made a new version, now digital, with the right colors.