Córrego do Feijão, Brumadinho – Minas Gerais, Brazil by Atiaîa Lighting Design
Brumadinho Memorial is a space based on the ethical commitment of symbolic reparation and memory for the 272 fatal victims of the collapse of a dam at Córrego do Feijão Mine, owned by Vale S.A. mining company. Occurred on January 25, 2019, in Brumadinho (MG), affecting 26 municipalities and releasing 12 million cubic meters of mining waste mud.
It houses an entrance pavilion, a grove, outdoor living areas, pathways to a sculpture-monument, a reflecting pool, Memory and Testimony exhibition rooms, and a space dedicated to the dignified storage of the victims’ corporeal segments.
The lighting design contributes to the creation of an immersive, respectful, sensitive and introspective experience. It reinforces the meaningful messages of the architectural project and emphasizes its elements and symbols: a Poem, a crystal cluster, 272 ipê flowers, 272 stars in the lake (the lost “jewels”), a sculpture that cries over concrete walls mixed with the pigment of mining waste.
Light guides the journey, defines highlighted planes, areas of brightness and darkness. It is a tool to symbolize presence – representing the victims who have passed away, and to illuminate the other – who visits, feels and is transformed by this experience.
Memorial Brumadinho is an act of resistance against oblivion, so that brutal events like this, against humanity and the environment, will never be repeated.
