Black Beach

This space, more than just a geographical location, is a palimpsest of lives and struggles, where the clear waters once flowed freely through the veins of the earth, fed by the springs.

But today, this stream, although polluted, carries in its murky green waters the resistance and confrontation of a community. Here, between the narrow banks of an almost forgotten stream, Queen Maria Zeferina and the Quilombo do Urubu found the ideal place to set up agricultural, commercial and leisure activities in 1823, together with indigenous people and gypsies, under the shadow of history and the starlight of their intertwined cultures.

It is against this backdrop that the investigation into Praia dos Pretos takes place, not just to uncover a place, but to retell and disseminate the narratives of a living landscape, pulsating in the orality of the voices of the black women who lived and still live here.

Memories and stories were erased and made impossible to make way for urban planning infrastructure. Thus, Praia dos Pretos was dammed up to become what residents popularly know as a "pinicão". Almost six hectares of land were dammed up and transformed into huge stabilization ponds, which were set up next to the houses, giving off a characteristic smell of ammonia.

This search for Praia dos Pretos represents a journey along paths of water and memory, challenging the interaction between community and nature. The narrative reveals ecosystems of human and non-human experiences. It is a study that embraces environmental justice, insisting on equity between beings and nature, and revealing how environmental degradation and racism disproportionately affects marginal territories.

In this dialog between past and present, imagining the landscape of Praia dos Pretos transcends its own physical territory, reaching the cultural and symbolic. It becomes a field of confrontation and happiness, where every stone and drop of water are also witnesses. The research, therefore, not only seeks to document, but also to inspire and disseminate in order to build a deeper understanding of the dynamics that weave the reality of the Águas Claras neighborhood. In this way, Praia dos Pretos reveals itself as a meeting place between yesterday and today, between struggle and hope, where every wave that flows is a whisper from the ancestors, calling us to recognize, respect and revere the sacred braid of lives intertwined on its shores.