Matinta is an old scary looking witch that has a long and messy mane and covers herself in black rags. No one knows her origin for sure. Her existence is directly connected to a curse: when she's about to die, the witch asks "who wants it?", and if anyone answers positively, that person is forever condemned to become Matinta. Mainly greedy well off women are the ones affected by this hex as they think jewelry or money was being offered. During the morning, she appears as a poor old lady that begs for cigarettes in the streets of Rio de Janeiro; at night, she turns into a small black bird whose whistle is a bad omen. If deceived, Matinta always gets her revenge and her powers can cause pain or diseases. Furthermore, she'll sing every night on this person's house until that debt is paid.
The project’s objective is to create a comic book focused on the daily life of this folkloric character in the streets of contemporary Rio de Janeiro. The woodcut prints from the Movimento Armorial were used as reference, it was an artistic initiative with the objective of creating erudite art using elements from the Brazilian Northeastern popular culture.
This story can be associated with the notion of "narrative experience", mentioned by Walter Benjamin in The Storyteller, as it shows a folkloric character in the contemporary Rio, focusing on a critique of upper classes' greed, and brings the reality of those that are bound to live in the streets.
[2017] 1st place, in the Brazilian Group, in Parla! 2017, international character design show held in partnership between Dhis (PUC-Rio) in Brazil, with CONFIA and IPCA in Portugal