Street Art Walking Tours & Panmela Castro
Channel: Rio EnCantos Experiences
Date: 2020-06-25

Panmela Castro (Rio de Janeiro, 1981) is a visual artist from Rio de Janeiro.Panmela Castro was raised as a "white girl" by her conservative lower middle-class family in a suburb of Rio de Janeiro. Her mother faced financial trouble and domestic violence with her first husband, she ran away and remarried a man who gave her a dignified life and raised Panmela as his legitimate daughter. With almost no formal education, her new father arranged for her to dedicate herself to her studies until, at the age of 15, Panmela was forced to work following her father's bankruptcy. With her family destabilized, she abandoned her parents' house and lived in one of the most dangerous slums in the city. To pay her bills and schooling, in addition to teaching, she began to draw people on the streets and sell the pieces for 1 Brazilian Real. In 2005, she began to dedicate herself to mural painting after a negative experience with domestic violence: she was beaten and kept in a private prison by her partner, and this experience definitely influenced the political nature of her works.
Panmela Castro has received many human rights nominations for her activist work in the arts, such as the Vital Voices Leadership Awards (D.C, 2010), the DVF Awards (NY, 2012), the Young Global Leader of the World Economic Forum (2013) and has appeared on important lists such as the American magazine Newsweek as one of "150 Fearless Women Who Are Shaking the World" (2012), among others. To bring about effective change in society, Panmela founded the Rede NAMI, an arts and human rights institution where, since 2010, has invested in more than 9,000 women and today is dedicated to black women who are the most affected by feminicide in the country.
At Rio EnCantos we work with cultural tourism providing authentic tours that will give the visitors a nice feeling of connection with local communities. We provide services such as tours around the city, hotel booking and transfers. We can also facilitate your access to the city if you need to figure out the best ways to engage with people locally and to have a good time.
https://www.rioencantos.com/product-page/historic-rio-street-art