Favela, Rio

One of a series of canvases based on the world's largest slums, the painting depicts a favela in Rio, Brazil, viewed in Google Earth from 2 1/4km above the city. Inspired by the writings of urban geographer Mike Davis, the series seeks to alight on the random nature of these improvised urban developments and how the most miserable human environments take on a strange beauty when viewed from above. Others in the series include the slum suburb of Kibera in Nairobi, Kenya; a polytunnel city in Almeria, southern Spain; and the Dharavi slum settlement in Mumbai, India. A related series planned to follow this group of canvases will focus on the concept of 'plenty' and will include Kansas crop circles viewed from a similar distance above.