because you come here
In this group of photos, it was opted to select a small and representative sample of the occupation of the square located in Itaim Paulista neighborhood, extreme East district of São Paulo city. This location is vindicated by the children who live in the neighborhood, on its majority students of EMEI (Escola Municipal de Educação Infantil, lit. Municipal Pre-School) Laura da Conceição Pereira Quintaes. More than exposing through pictures the square initially occupied on a saturday, the intention is to bring questions to whomever sees them and, who knows, provoke other occupations of public space all over the city with children, actions that can boost and encourage people to make another present and future of neighborhoods and cities unequally assisted by the public power. What we indicate as an inspiration source is the presence and the fight of the children for common things that exist in the cities and appropriated only by adults, removing them from the learning of democratic coexistence. Listening respectfully to their claims is indispensable. An important data is that the occupation of this square by the children implied positive alterations on the relations between population and the space that turned into a place with and for the children. There is a naturalized conception that some squares are places that attract “those who do nothing”, meaning not workers, not producers in an accelerated time that demands speed and productivity. Idly, rarely used in a way that benefits local residents providing encounters, small talks, against the capital’s time, who knows? The proposal that emerges from the children and people from the mentioned EMEI involves the nearby community in a deep relationship. It spreads out promoting other occupations, whichever they are, by children and relatives that don’t belong to the school itself. The images invite, in a way, to participate. This participation occurs from the looks, from the search for the colors, the created drawings, the people. The children imagined other possible ways to be in this space and accomplished it alongside adults, teachers, managers and other employees. Two years ago, on a Saturday, we had the first day of occupation of the Itaim Paulista square, a milestone, and the day that the photos were taken (composing a personal archive). After that day, the children began to occupy it on tuesdays. In one of those, a resident of the neighborhood showed the importance of the transforming freedom of daring and of the right to use the public space beyond its perception and marketing use. This resident made a comment to the teacher that accompanied the children: I love Tuesdays because you come here. The practices of the teachers on this space alongside the children that came to occupy it were an invitation to look and change apparently immutable paths. May many tuesdays come!
Marcia Gobbi
Margarida Barbosa