Chameleon Chat: Dear Ginga...

                    See?!  Where's the mangrove?

Dear Ginga, 

How're you doing m'lovely?  How's your painting going?

I'm sending you these photos of chameleons from Florianopolis here in Brazil because as I've been a-wandering the new city over the last week these have been the images that have grabbed my eye the most.... and because they all seem to have been painted by one artist who's clearly obsessed by something in their symbolism or form I keep being reminded of you and your pigeon-painting phase! :-) 

I was curious about the message from the one at the top: "See?! Where's the mangrove?" and had a look online to see if Brazilian chameleons are under threat because of loss of habitat.  In that search I happened across this petition to sign in support of the endangered Tarzan species of chameleon, which is in fact from Madagascar rather than Brazil.  But then today when I asked my local Portuguese teacher Dayane she explained that the Floripa chameleon is also under threat because of building development destroying local mangroves, hence the mural's slogan.  

One particular local shopping mall is an especially potent culprit because four years ago it was built directly on top of a local mangrove, dramatically reducing the space available to the local fauna of crocodiles, crabs and chameleons amongst others (apparently sometimes sat safely behind the glass of a café in the mall you will see a crocodile pass outside!).  This mall, Iguatemi, is pretty much at the end of the road where I am staying and I've been to it too many times for my comfort in my search for a hard drive to back up my project work.  Apparently when it was being built back in 2007 many folk protested, causing building to pause momentarily at the foundation stage, until a relatively insignificant fine was set and paid and building re-commenced, creating the a slick capitalist-consumerist-monster that now attracts flocks of shoppers every day.  Perhaps explaining as well the slogan from his mural below: 

All this smells really bad!

I happened to pass a couple of lads spraying under a bridge at the weekend and they tell me this grafitero's name is Rize and he lives on 'continente' - the mainland part of this city spanning island and main.

So, Rize, thanks for the clues to what's going on environmentally in Floripa, and Ginga, I hope you enjoy these photos and are happy in your own painting... you got any photos to share?

Sending a big hug from Brazil!
:-)