This post comes to you from EcoArtScotland
Hi Sacha
I write with tragic news to inform you that Maria do Espirito Santo da Silva, arts-educator, eco-pedagogue activist, grandmother and student-participant in our teacher education project Voices of the Land based in the Federal University of Para, was assassinated with her husband Jose da Silva, on the 24th May, near to her forest home in the region of Maraba. They were, I believe, returning from meetings with the President of Brazil, explaining the need to defend the forests, rivers and pedagogies of the Amazon.
Please would you inform our colleagues in your network of this tragic news. You can find a few details in the Guardian newspaper. The article focusses on her husband (unfortunately rendering Maria’s lifetime of dedication invisible), but gives you a clear picture of their humanity and courage.
www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/may/24/amazon-rainforest-activist-killed?CMP=EMCGT_250511
UNESCO-Brazil has had the clarity and courage to partner this arts education project which contains Maria’s poems, songs and pedagogical reflections. I will let you know when they are published.
Many thanks
Dan
ecoartscotland is a resource focused on art and ecology for artists, curators, critics, commissioners as well as scientists and policy makers. It includes ecoartscotland papers, a mix of discussions of works by artists and critical theoretical texts, and serves as a curatorial platform.
It has been established by Chris Fremantle, producer and research associate with On The Edge Research, Gray’s School of Art, The Robert Gordon University. Fremantle is a member of a number of international networks of artists, curators and others focused on art and ecology.