THE PROJECT

The book “A Portrait of the Fight for Housing in Belo Horizonte Going Through the Pandemic” brings together illustrations by Renato Baruq and photographs by Cadu Passos. During 2022 and 2023, two Brazilian artists and organizers documents almost 20 old abandoned houses in the central region of Belo Horizonte that became living social and cultural spaces for people in vulnerable situations during the pandemic. The work is accompanied by interviews conducted between 2022 and 2023, which tell the story of these properties and their inhabitants in their own voices.

CONTEXT

For a decade, people from all around the world have been visiting Kasa Invisível for discussions, workshops, movie screenings, concerts, classes, book fairs, and festivals. In addition to hosting events and meetings for unions and social movement groups, Kasa functions daily as a community kitchen, library, infoshop, screen printing workshop, and vegan food cooperative.

During the pandemic and the period of social isolation, the Kasa collective started to organize regular actions to support homeless people and workers in the neighborhood against COVID-19. This involved gathering and donating food, clothing, blankets and hygiene kits alongside other forms of direct action and mutual support.

A video about the mutual aid projects organized out of Kasa Invisível, by the media collective Antimídia.[activate english subtitles]

Our Network of Autonomous Squats

The book Casa Encantada documents abandoned houses in Belo Horizonte that have been squatted and transformed into homes and social centers. During the pandemic, we saw an explosion in homelessness in Brazil's urban centers, which led to the emergence of a new wave of occupations of houses and smaller buildings.

The book documents this network of autonomous squats with illustrations by Baruq, phographs from C. Passos, and interviews with residents and activists in the squatting movement in Belo Horizonte.

Our Goal:

The money will cover:

• Printing costs for the book in Brazil in Portuguese and Spanish for the 11th anniversary of Kasa Invisível on March 2024 – 1.000,00 [need to have]
• Part of the costs of translating and printing in French and English in Europe in April 2024 – 800,00 [need to have]
• Part of the costs of transportation for a tour to present the book in squats around Brazil and Europe – 800,00 [nice to have]

If we collect more money than needed, it will cover printing costs for future editions of the book to public libraries and social centers in Brazil.

The book will be available in our Infoshop and on the Kasa Invisível website for free download.