Guia Cultural da Costa Verde

Paraty • Paraty

SAPOREM

A life illustrated with stories and poetry

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João Baptista Martins, known as Saporem, is a folk artist 77 years of age completed in 2014 and with many stories to tell. He is one of the most loved and cheerful persons to occupy the São Vicente de Paula senior sitizens’ some in Paraty’s historical town center, where he worked for 10 years and now lives in retirement.

He learned to fend for himself as a child. His curiosity also led him to seek knowledge in the many books that he read. He became a teacher as a young man and was the first person to work in the Indian community in Paraty-Mirim. He gave lessons under the Mobral illiteracy campaign in the nearby locations of Praia Grande, Mamanguá and Sertão Alegre. At roughly 28 years of age and still a teacher, he started to develop his artistic skills with drawings.

Another passion was poetry, to which he became dedicated at age 36. In those times a key fact changed his life: he was bitten by a snake and was hospitalized for a good while. There he met an intern from Minas Gerais who taught him to make figures by folding paper. By allying these folded paper figures with his previous skills he fashioned his creative illustrated poems, whose verses are displayed as he unfolds the paper, creating stories and surprising drawings that develop and expand with each movement. This striking sensitivity became even more evident when an exhibition was organized in honor of Saporem with his illustrated poems, held in Casa da Cultura de Paraty in 2014. During the exhibition’s opening, with a full house, he displayed his musical traits as a born ciranda performer, singing and playing the tambourine with other musician friends.

Saporem is known to tourists and residents – who love to listen to his stories and poetry – and he may be seen walking through the historical town center or in the home, where a visit will always be welcome!

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