Two Black men, Pedro Rajão and Fernando Sawaya, created the NegroMuro (BlackWall) mural project in Rio de Janeiro in 2018 to address the severe underrepresentation of Black figures in the city's public monuments. Of Rio's roughly 360 statues and busts, fewer than 10% depict Black people. The project now comprises 80 murals across the city, portraying about 120 Black individuals—including writer Machado de Assis, activist Lélia Gonzalez, and musician Luiz Melodia—on walls of schools, museums, train stations, and private homes. The murals are concentrated in the less touristy north zone, deliberately focusing on underserved neighborhoods. The project was recently recognized by law as part of Rio's intangible cultural heritage.
The project matters because it actively counters the erasure of Black history and contributions in a city that was once the world's largest port for enslaved Africans and now has a majority Afro-descendant population. By creating a vibrant, accessible "cartography of Black memory," NegroMuro challenges the dominance of statues commemorating generals and brigadiers while ignoring the people who built the city. Its legal recognition as cultural heritage marks a significant institutional acknowledgment of Afro-Brazilian legacy, and the project's expansion to other cities like Brasília and São Paulo signals a growing movement to democratize public art and historical commemoration across Brazil.