Project Description
The essay “Cairu” (a word of Tupi origin, meaning “House of the Sun” or “Tree with dark leaves”), proposes a reflection on the margin, the threshold: the lacunous space where it is possible to experience other realities and modes of existence. In 2021 I left the city and started living in a van, accompanied only by my dog Cairu. The nomadic and isolated life had a profound impact on me. Constantly being in front of a different landscape, frequently feeling new temperatures and smells, generates not only a physical displacement, but above all, a psychological one. In this essay I bring together characters who have experienced such a shift in consciousness. State in which the perception of the world expands and deepens. Borders implode and a primordial vision removes us from everyday life. We are transported to another dimension of reality and at the same time of ourselves. “Cairu” raises the inner journey as a power for individual and collective transformation. Seeking recognition of the sacred in nature. It thus proposes an essential return to the cosmo visions, knowledge and mythologies of ancestral peoples.
Bio
Mario Lalau (São Paulo, SP, Brazil, 1978) Currently lives in Nevada, USA. Has a bachelor’s degree in Administration and a postgraduate degree in Communication and Arts. He has worked as a photojournalist for Grupo Folha de São Paulo and has published in some of the main news media in Brazil. Since 2015 he has been focused on his ongoing personal projects like “Tropeço” a project published in Book format in May of 2017 and “Cairu” a recent project to be published in 2024.
Cairu
Hariban Award 2024