Interview with Brazilian artists Maria Lira Marques and Davi Jesus do Nascimento

Indeed, filha da puta. The town my paternal family comes from, Araçuaí, inland of Brazil, in the state of Minas Gerais, was founded on the turn of the 18th to the 19th century, when the Vale do Jequitinhonha was being progressively invaded by colonizers. A canoe of sex workers navigating the Jequitinhonha River moored at a recently established village, Itira, located at the intersection of two voluminous rivers, the Jequitinhonha and the Araçuaí. Itira began to grow as a village around the church built by the priest Carlos Pereira Freire de Moura, the local authority at the time. Freire de Moura had imagined his new village as an impeccable catholic settlement. The group of sex workers settled in Itira and started their business taking advantage of the busy intersection of the two frequently navigated rivers. Some say the priest was a regular customer at the brothel; a customer who may have enjoyed the brothel’s services free of charge.