JALAPÃO, Brazil — Capim dourado, or golden grass, grows in Jalapão, a wild part of the Brazilian Cerrado, the most biodiverse savanna in the world.
With its unique color, the grass has lifted women through generations, bringing security and beauty into their lives. In Afro Brazilian Quilombola communities, they gather as artisans to craft all sorts of traditional items: vases, hats, purses, fruit bowls, sous plats…their art became their main source of income, reaching far beyond Jalapão.
The grass grows only in the wetlands of the Cerrado, the veredas. But deforestation for cattle pasture and soy fields, wildfires, illegal harvest and climate change are depleting the fields, and local people say there’s less of the grass to be found.
Through the sustainable management of the grass – harvesting once a year and leaving the plant seeds in the field – the artisans are trying to keep their golden treasure safe.
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Banner image: Laudeci Ribeiro holding a vase. Image ©Fellipe Abreu.
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Transcript
Notice: Transcripts are machine and human generated and lightly edited for accuracy. They may contain errors.1 This day was so beautiful that it has become part of her generation’s history. My grandmother went to [collect] buriti [fruit] with my grandfather. Their plan was to gather buriti. And when she saw the savanna wetland, there was this gift, moving under the sun. The wind was moving it from side to side. Golden grass was discovered about 180 years ago, on one of our wetlands, by Dona Laurina, my great-great-grandmother. She didn’t know then that her generation was going to have a completely different future through this art. The artisans sit here in my house, each with their own idea for a piece. I started a fruit bowl, a jewelry box, a sous plat. My house is a golden room. And today I don’t see golden grass just as a financial asset. I see it as a cultural asset. I see it as my identity. We’re here at the headwaters, where our springs used to be … We had water, we had wetlands. But as the forests continue to be cleared, they get dried out. There is a lot of sand in the swamps. Our water is disappearing. We’re almost unable to harvest the golden grass due to the droughts. Here inside its little head are several seeds the color of art. The seed is golden, and the art is golden. We take care of the roots and sow the seed. So that the field is never empty, but always strengthened. … so that it doesn’t end. I saw my mother doing this. I would go to the field with her, pulling up the golden grass. And from there, the feeling of being together arose. And I want to pass this on to my son in the future. I want to show him that golden grass is his history. And that, for me, is something wonderful.
Credits
