Scratching the Surface Project — Recife

Monumental carved portrait on the tall gable wall of a building at Cais de Santa Rita in central Recife, excavated through the plaster render down to the exposed brick beneath. The face is that of a female teacher from the Aracaí indigenous village in Paraná, whom the artist met during his 2014 residency with the Guarani community at Piraquara — linking this wall to the Aldeia de Araçaí project of the same year. It was produced in November 2014 in the period of the solo exhibition Incisão at CAIXA Cultural Recife (22 November 2014 – 25 January 2015) and carries the VHILS signature at its lower right. The mural was destroyed — painted over in mid-2024.