Our Story
Casa Amarela Providência was founded in 2009 by French artist JR and Brazilian photographer Maurício Hora, following their collaboration on Women Are Heroes, a project that put a spotlight on the women of the Providência favela. After the project’s exhibition at Casa França-Brasil, the two acquired a house with a shared commitment to support the community. Together, they established Casa Amarela as a cultural center and safe space where local children could learn, create, and develop their artistic skills. With over 20 years of experience documenting life in Morro da Providência and Rio de Janeiro’s Port Zone and deep ties to the neighborhood, Maurício plays an essential role in connecting with the community and amplifying the impact of the cultural center, while JR continues to use art as a tool for social transformation.
In its early years, Casa Amarela offered legal assistance, a reading room and community library, photography workshops, and English classes taught by volunteers. A few years later, the iconic moon installation was inaugurated, which has since become a symbol of Casa Amarela. In 2017, Casa Amarela began offering daily children’s and youth programs, including literacy, dance, and music classes rooted in Afro-Brazilian memory and racial literacy. To celebrate its 10th anniversary in 2019, the center hosted its first annual festival, followed by the launch of the Black November Festival in 2020. That same year, new programs for women were introduced, expanding the center’s impact across generations, strengthening community leadership, and promoting inclusion and care.
In 2022, Casa Amarela built Santo Skatepark— the first skatepark constructed at the top of a favela. In 2023, the center received both the Culture Ministry Grant and the Recognition Prize from Rio’s City Hall, just before celebrating its 15th anniversary and beginning the construction on a new house dedicated to the next chapter of its educational, cultural, and artistic programming.
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About Our Founders
JR
French artist JR, the Founder of the Can Art Change the World? Foundation, creates monumental public art projects that inspire passersby to ask questions and confront their own perceptions. After his first major project Portrait of a Generation (2004-06), which challenged stereotypes of Parisian suburban youth, he began working internationally. Whether it be pasting the faces of Israeli and Palestinian people on both sides of the Separation Wall (2007), the eyes of women on train cars in Kibera, Kenya (2009), or a giant toddler peeking over the US-Mexico border fence (2017), JR’s larger-than-life installations amplify the stories of everyday people and inspire dialogue. From creating a trompe-l’oeil at the Louvre with 400 volunteers (2019) to pasting alongside incarcerated men in a California maximum-security prison (2019-22), he seeks to involve everyone in the act of artistic creation, hoping to create conversations and drive social change.
Maurício Hora
Maurício Hora is a photographer, visual artist, curator, and quilombola leader from the Quilombo da Pedra do Sal in Rio de Janeiro. Born and raised in Morro da Providência, his work explores urban transformation, memory, and the identities of Rio’s favelas, revealing the deep connections between territory, art, and resistance. He is a member of the Management Committee of Cais do Valongo, recognized by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site, and co-founder of Casa Amarela, created in 2009 in partnership with French artist JR. In 2017, he presented a major exhibition at BNDES focusing on Canudos and Providência. A self-taught artist, Hora has become one of the most influential voices in Brazilian social photography, with a career defined by national and international exhibitions and projects that unite art, memory, and social inclusion.