FIFA World Cup Street Art Image Showing Hungry Brazil Child Served Football Goes Viral
A street artist from Brazil has attempted to capture the paradox of hosting one of the most expensive sports tournaments in the world and dealing with grave problems the country suffers on a daily basis. He converted the anguish of many of his countrymen into street art. Now his sketch of a hungry child served a football on the platter has gone viral as the image is being shared by thousands of people all over the world. Paulo Ito painted a mural on the doors of a school in São Paulo earlier in May 2014.
Ito said that he wanted the world to know about their situation. "The truth is there is so much wrong in Brazil that it is difficult to know where to start," the street artist told Slate this week of the striking image. "I didn't mean [to say] nobody is doing anything against poverty. But we need to show the world or ourselves that the situation is still not good." The Facebook post sharing the photo of the street art has already been liked and shared for more than 42,000 times.
Disgruntled Brazilian citizens in several cities across the Latin American country have gone out to the streets to voice their protest against that billions of dollars that the Brazilian government is spending on the 2014 FIFA World Cup. Huffington Post reported that poverty was a "major national issue" while "public services remain neglected" in the country.
"My rent went from $135 to $360 in a matter of months. That's more than minimum wage, and my sons can't afford to support me anymore," Pedrina Josefina Felix told LA Times, "It's beautiful. And there is a good side to the World Cup, and to developing this neighborhood, I suppose. But it doesn't do any good for those of us who can't pay rents anymore."
The expected expense for the World Cup is over $11 billion. It took around $445 million only to build Arena Corinthians where the tournament would kick off.