EYES FOR BRAZIL

São Paulo, Brazil  2021

 

Firstly, allow me to introduce myself: my name is Laura Wagner, and I am a seventeen-year-old girl from São Paulo, Brazil. During my years as a freelance illustrator ( @aquarelau ), I’ve worked on my personal style of drawing, and creating characters with large eyes became one of my favorite subjects. I believe eyes are the features that most deeply communicate our personal, intimate thoughts. 

 

The pandemic of COVID-19 accentuated the difficulties faced by people in low income communities. 

The project ‘Eyes for Brazil’ originates with the intention of helping Brazilians in need during such difficult times.

I created a collection of 28 characters - comprising eight copies each - that represent the twenty seven Brazilian states plus Brasília, the country’s federal capital. The drawings go from a one-eyed to a twenty-seven-eyed character, and will be released over time. 

The last character depicts Brasília and has no eyes, expressing the lack of vision and perspective brought by the authorities' misconduct in handling the pandemic since its beginning. 

To connect my artwork with the present moment, I’ve drawn the characters with masks. For buyers, we will disclose the characters’ full faces, highlighting the hope of a brighter future that will soon be unmasked.

All artworks are being sold as NFTs on the OpenSea platform, and and all funds - both from net sales and royalties - will be used to support NGOs that help reduce the pandemic’s impact in Brazil (see pledge). Royalties will be set at 8% as a way to keep raising funds, as the drawings are sold and resold. Our list of partner NGOs can be seen here. 

As long as the pandemic lasts, the importance of wearing masks is unmeasurable. Whilst we see only half of each other’s faces, it’s our eyes that communicate everything.

I hope that we can together see better times ahead.

 

Laura Wagner