São Paulo – One of the photos shows a group of adolescents playing football right next to the Pyramids of Giza, in Egypt. Another one shows boys playing with a ball in front of the El Jem Amphitheatre, in Mahdia, Tunisia. The two pictures, alongside 49 other images, can be seen at the Museum of Football, located in the Pacaembu stadium, in the city of São Paulo. The photographs comprise the exhibition Ora, Bolas! O Futebol pelo Mundo and show people playing football in 24 different countries, among them Arab nations Tunisia, Yemen, Egypt, Djibouti, Iraq and Palestine.
Of the images on display, 37 were shot by São Paulo-based photographer Caio Vilela, and the remainder are from the editorial collection of the Getty Images agency. The exhibition is quite diverse and illustrates well the universality of a football ball. There are adults, adolescents and children – mostly male – playing, for instance, in front of a temple, in Cambodia, in front of the Great Wall of China, and in an empty pool in Baghdad, Iraq.
The photos by Caio Vilela, a journalist and photographer, are the result of a five-year long work. During the period, Vilela made use of his travels around the world, working for press vehicles, to collect images of people playing football. It all began when he took a picture of children playing ball in front of a façade of Islamic architecture, in Iran. The snapshot is not featured in the exhibition at the Museum of Football, but it spawned the idea for the collection.
The images by Vilela, which are part of the exhibition, have also become a book, “Futebol Sem Fronteiras” (Football Without Borders), released in October last year by the Panda Books publishing house. The book and the idea for the exhibition were born virtually at the same time. Aside from the images, the book also features short texts – or large subtitles – about peculiarities of football in each of the countries photographed. Vilela explains that among the Arab countries, Yemen was the one that attracted his attention. “Sixty percent of the country’s population is under 15 years of age. You see kids playing football everywhere,” he says. He has been to Yemen three times.
Vilela, by the way, plans on putting together a piece of work featuring images of football in Arab countries only. “Those are where you see the most street football, with more joy, spontaneity and safety,” he explains. Vilela has a Lebanese great-grandfather and speaks Arabic. For this project, however, he is still seeking sponsorship.
In the exhibition at the Museum of Football, the Arab countries that Vilela has pictures of are Tunisia, Yemen and Egypt. The exhibition also features photos taken in other Arab nations, such as Djibouti, Iraq and Palestine, but they are from Getty Images. Djibouti, for instance, appears in a picture of five boys in a seemingly abandoned plot. One of the scenes from Iraq by Getty images shows three United States soldiers playing ball with an Iraqi. There are also images from Brazil, such as three women playing football on a beach in Peruíbe, a city on the coast of the state of São Paulo.
The exhibition, along with the Museum, has received 70,000 since its beginning, on December 5th. It is curated by Marcelo Duarte and Augusto Lins Soares. While viewing the exhibition, visitors listen to people discussing football, or discussing matches, as they play, in several languages. The exhibition will continue until March 14th.
Service:
Exhibition Ora, Bolas! O Futebol Pelo Mundo
Up until March 14th, 2010
Place: Museum of Football in the Pacaembu Stadium (Charles Miller square, no number)
Price: 6 Brazilian reals, 3 reals for students and the elderly (US$ 3, US$ 1.6)
Free entry on Thursdays
Time: 10:00 am to 06:00 pm
Information: (+55 11) 3663 3848
*Translated by Gabriel Pomerancblum
