1 MUNDANO mag

SPECIAL ENGLISH ISSUE

MUNDANO A BRAZILIAN MAGAZINE

mag

MONA LISA YOUR

BODY A LESBIAN ROMANCE

COLORCOLOR CHANGED HERCHANGED HER THE GIRL WHOTHE GIRL WHO DenciaDencia

THE MONKEY

SELFIE

2 MUNDANO mag

Number 1

3 MUNDANO mag

By Marcelo Bicalho

Translation: Raí Santos

MUNDANO When you think about the word ‘MUNDANO’ (Mundane in English), what comes to your mind?

Well, in case you do not know how to interpret this word properly, let’s explain it. And let’s start

this explanation using the bible – with another conception and at another time. The anachronistic

sense that MUNDANE reveals on the bible:

1John 2:15-17: “Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, love for

the Father[a] is not in them. For everything in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes,

and the pride of life—comes not from the Father but from the world. 17 The world and its desires

pass away, but whoever does the will of God lives forever.

Thus: MUNDANE for the elder ones and according to the Bible, refers to those who live for the

world, excluding their beliefs, the spirituality and virtue. A mundane person would never be capa-

ble of living solely and exclusively for the church or for the religion. Nowadays, we heard about

some who say “so-and-so is from the world”.

Then does it mean that

is a magazine made by totally materialist and non-religious people? WRONG!

MUNDANO is also a word that can be interpreted according to the following ways:

- Experienced person, with world-related knowledge.

- One who has world-related knowledge .

- One who seeks to know more about everything.

- One who has no fear to risk.

Soon, to our staff, the word MUNDANO has a positive side, after all, we make part of this group of

people who seeks learning; have new experiences; acquire knowledge; and has no fear to risk.

MUNDANO Mag hopes you, our reader, be as Mundane as we are, and we hope that you go

ahead on this adventure of doing something new, in pursuit of new experiences and knowledge:

reading what we have in order to keep you all informed.

4 MUNDANO mag

MUNDANO Welcome to

5 MUNDANO mag

MUNDANO mag Welcome to

6 MUNDANO mag

Cover by Beatriz Figueiredo

Special English Issue

Editor

Anderson Leal

General Supervision

Caroline Nogueira

Collaborated in this issue

Beatriz Figueiredo

Gisele Morgado

Marcelo Bicalho

Mathias Klang

Peter Janiszewski

Raí Santos

Digital Magazine

MUNDANO mag

Write to us: mundanomagazine@gmail.com

7 MUNDANO mag

MUNDANO 03 MY SWEET SUMMER 08 THE MONA LISA 10 TO THINK 12 INDIVIDUALITY IS NOT AS BAD AS IT SEEMS TO BE MUNDANO 14 SPECIAL BRASIL THE MONKEY SELFIE 20 THE BODY MASS INDEX 24 DENCIA 30 THE GIRL WHO CHANGED HER COLOR

MUNDANO mag

DENCIA The girl who

changed her color.

MUNDANO Mag English Issue - Nº 01

INSI

DE COVER STORY:

8 MUNDANO mag

TALE

My Sweet Summer

I traveled on vacation with a friend to Fernando de Noronha. My dream

was always to meet that nature’s paradise. We stayed at a cottage at Solar

dos Ventos Inn. A breathtaking view and close to the beach. We both had

recently finished frustrating relationships and needed a refuge and some

peace, once love was something complicated.

We lay down on the double bed and we talked so much after dinner dur-

ing our first night on the island. We were tired because of the trip, but so

excited to be in that paradise that we were not able to sleep. We decided

to take a walk and admire the view. The night was warm and the sea

breeze wonderful. The sky was clear and starry. Moreover a full moon was

making the scenery worthy of a Drummond’s (Carlos Drummond de An-

drade – Brazilian poet) poem.

We lay down to sleep, exhausted. The following morning, as usual, I

opened my eyes. I was lay down across from the balcony and a crack on

the curtain allowed me to see the magnificent view outside. This was, in-

deed a gorgeous awakening. I realized that Marina was hugging me and

that she had her body next to mine. I felt something different inside me

which I was not able to comprehend. So many years being friends and we

had never slept together on the same bed. The truth is that I had already

bought the vacation package months before, when I was still with my boy-

friend. When the relationship ended and coincidentally (I wonder if such

thing really exists) Marina broke up with her boyfriend as well, I thought

she would be a good company to the trip.

We had a lovely breakfast and we headed to the beach. Marina was smil-

ing in a way she hadn’t for such a long time. I felt light and happy. Looking

at her made forget the pain of my ending. We stayed on the beach for so a

long that we lost the sense of time. We came back to have lunch, and after

we talked for hours at the cottage’s balcony. We left the cottage to see the

sunset, sat on the sand, seeing the sky becoming orange. Marina rested

her head on my shoulder and cried a little. My heart stung at that mo-

ment. I held her face between my hands and dried her tears with my

thumbs. It was when she looked into my eyes, with that craving and asking

face and asked me the reason why she could not find a woman like me to

love. She said that if she had a woman like me she would be finally happy.

For some time I thought about what she said and realized that if I had a

woman like her I would also be happy. We knew each other very well, we

comprehended each other, and certainly I would be happy. And an in in-

sane impulse I kissed her lips and I backed in fear of her reaction.

She watched me and when I was going to start to apologize she leaped on

me and kissed me. We kissed for a long time and the fondling became

more intense. Both of gave our body and soul to each other, and we loved

each other there, on the sand and then we cuddled seeing the sunset.

After thinking for some time, I lay down with her in silence; I decided to

make us happy. So many times happiness is at hand and we look the other

way. She had everything I have always looked for. This is how I made us

happy, from that day on, and my vacation in Fernando de Noronha became

unforgettable. I proposed to her three years later. Our honeymoon was in

that very same cottage and now it has been ten years we are happy to-

gether. After all of this I have never believed in coincidence anymore.

Writte by Gisele Morgado Translation: Raí Santos

9 MUNDANO mag

I traveled on vacation with a friend to Fernando de Noronha. My dream

was always to meet that nature’s paradise. We stayed at a cottage at Solar

dos Ventos Inn. A breathtaking view and close to the beach. We both had

recently finished frustrating relationships and needed a refuge and some

peace, once love was something complicated.

We lay down on the double bed and we talked so much after dinner dur-

ing our first night on the island. We were tired because of the trip, but so

excited to be in that paradise that we were not able to sleep. We decided

to take a walk and admire the view. The night was warm and the sea

breeze wonderful. The sky was clear and starry. Moreover a full moon was

making the scenery worthy of a Drummond’s (Carlos Drummond de An-

drade – Brazilian poet) poem.

We lay down to sleep, exhausted. The following morning, as usual, I

opened my eyes. I was lay down across from the balcony and a crack on

the curtain allowed me to see the magnificent view outside. This was, in-

deed a gorgeous awakening. I realized that Marina was hugging me and

that she had her body next to mine. I felt something different inside me

which I was not able to comprehend. So many years being friends and we

had never slept together on the same bed. The truth is that I had already

bought the vacation package months before, when I was still with my boy-

friend. When the relationship ended and coincidentally (I wonder if such

thing really exists) Marina broke up with her boyfriend as well, I thought

she would be a good company to the trip.

We had a lovely breakfast and we headed to the beach. Marina was smil-

ing in a way she hadn’t for such a long time. I felt light and happy. Looking

at her made forget the pain of my ending. We stayed on the beach for so a

long that we lost the sense of time. We came back to have lunch, and after

we talked for hours at the cottage’s balcony. We left the cottage to see the

sunset, sat on the sand, seeing the sky becoming orange. Marina rested

her head on my shoulder and cried a little. My heart stung at that mo-

ment. I held her face between my hands and dried her tears with my

thumbs. It was when she looked into my eyes, with that craving and asking

face and asked me the reason why she could not find a woman like me to

love. She said that if she had a woman like me she would be finally happy.

For some time I thought about what she said and realized that if I had a

woman like her I would also be happy. We knew each other very well, we

comprehended each other, and certainly I would be happy. And an in in-

sane impulse I kissed her lips and I backed in fear of her reaction.

She watched me and when I was going to start to apologize she leaped on

me and kissed me. We kissed for a long time and the fondling became

more intense. Both of gave our body and soul to each other, and we loved

each other there, on the sand and then we cuddled seeing the sunset.

After thinking for some time, I lay down with her in silence; I decided to

make us happy. So many times happiness is at hand and we look the other

way. She had everything I have always looked for. This is how I made us

happy, from that day on, and my vacation in Fernando de Noronha became

unforgettable. I proposed to her three years later. Our honeymoon was in

that very same cottage and now it has been ten years we are happy to-

gether. After all of this I have never believed in coincidence anymore.

Gisele Morgado. Lesbian writer and novelist. With a

Cancerian ascendant in scorpio which is defined as

"Love in Motion". Author of "O Fantástico Mundo

de Gisele Morgado” (The Fantastic World of Gisele

Morgado) Facebook page with thousands of hits and

tanned girls like her, who love girls and will soon

release his stories and chronicles in a book.

10 MUNDANO mag

THE MONA LISA A

RT

11 MUNDANO mag

This portrait was doubtless painted in Florence between 1503 and 1506. It is thought to be of Lisa Gherardini, wife of a Florentine cloth merchant named Francesco del Giocondo - hence the alternative title, La Gioconda. However, Leonardo seems to have taken the com-pleted portrait to France rather than giving it to the person who commissioned it. It was eventually returned to Italy by Leonardo's student and heir Salai. It is not known how the painting came to be in François I's collection.

Lisa Gherardini, wife of Francesco Giocondo The history of the Mona Lisa is shrouded in mystery. Among the aspects which remain unclear are the exact identity of the sitter, who commissioned the portrait, how long Leonardo worked on the painting, how long he kept it, and how it came to be in the French royal collection. The portrait may have been painted to mark one of two events - either when Francesco del Gio-condo and his wife bought their own house in 1503, or when their second son, Andrea, was born in December 1502 after the death of a daughter in 1499. The delicate dark veil that covers Mona Lisa's hair is sometimes considered a mourning veil. In fact, such veils were commonly worn as a mark of virtue. Her clothing is unremarkable. Neither the yellow sleeves of her gown, nor her ple-ated gown, nor the scarf delicately draped round her shoulders are signs of aristocratic status.

A new artistic formula The Mona Lisa is the earliest Italian portrait to focus so closely on the sitter in a half-length por-trait. The painting is generous enough in its dimensions to include the arms and hands without them touching the frame. The portrait is painted to a realistic scale in the highly structured space where it has the fullness of volume of a sculpture in the round. The figure is shown in half-length, from the head to the waist, sitting in a chair whose arm is resting on balusters. She is resting her left arm on the arm of the chair, which is placed in front of a loggia, suggested by the parapet be-hind her and the two fragmentary columns framing the figure and forming a "window" looking out over the landscape. The perfection of this new artistic formula explains its immediate influence on Florentine and Lombard art of the early 16th century. Such aspects of the work as the three-quarter view of a figure against a landscape, the architectural setting, and the hands joined in the foreground were already extant in Flemish portraiture of the second half of the 15th century, par-ticularly in the works of Hans Memling. However, the spacial coherence, the atmospheric illusio-nism, the monumentality, and the sheer equilibrium of the work were all new. In fact, these as-pects were also new to Leonardo's work, as none of his earlier portraits display such controlled majesty.

An emblematic smile The Mona Lisa's famous smile represents the sitter in the same way that the juniper branches

represent Ginevra Benci and the ermine represents Cecilia Gallerani in their portraits, in Wa-

shington and Krakow respectively. It is a visual representation of the idea of happiness sugges-

ted by the word "gioconda" in Italian. Leonardo made this notion of happiness the central motif of

the portrait: it is this notion which makes the work such an ideal. The nature of the landscape al-

so plays a role. The middle distance, on the same level as the sitter's chest, is in warm colors.

Men live in this space: there is a winding road and a bridge. This space represents the transition

between the space of the sitter and the far distance, where the landscape becomes a wild and

uninhabited space of rocks and water which stretches to the horizon, which Leonardo has clever-

ly drawn at the level of the sitter's eyes.

The Louvre is open every day (except Tuesday) from 9 a.m Night opening until 9:45 p.m. on Wednesdays and Fridays

Closed on the following holidays: January 1 Musée du Louvre, 75058 Paris - France

Métro: Palais-Royal Musée du Louvre (lines 1 and 7) Tel.: +33 (0)1 40 20 53 17

Tickets and informatons: www.louvre.fr/en

12 MUNDANO mag

INDIVIDUALITY IS NOT AS BAD AS IT SEEMS Text: Caroline nogueira

Translation: Raí Santos

Have you ever heard that story that tells that being an individualistic is something bad and that we need

to think about others? Well, what if this is not completely right?

The exercise of looking inside ourselves is easier than it looks like, maybe because of this, some say that

being an individualistic is something so bad. Actually it hurts and we stay exposed to ourselves, without

labels, completely naked.

Being an individualistic means exhaling what we feel without the need of crying out to the world. If we are

not able to love, chiefly ourselves, we might not be able to love anyone else. Moreover if we are not able

to respect ourselves, we might not be able to respect anyone else. If there is no kindness within our

hearts, we will never do an act of kindness.

Being an individualistic means being true to yourself, admit your mistakes, flaws, prejudices; and trying to

live with it all the best way possible. We all make mistakes and we will always do so . It is having other-

ness, i.e. walk in others’ shoes, trying to see with others’ eyes without having the need of adding a partic-

ular feeling or belief to your own life. Have your own opinions, listen to the others’ and be always ready to

change whenever it is necessary or whenever your life takes a different way from what you have always

hoped. The choices of our own are always haunting us, but external factors will always be around.

Being an individualistic means having plenty of awareness that no creature on Earth will ever feel what

you feel and, respecting this fact. Each one has their own life story, their experiences, traumas, beliefs,

values and ways to see the world. If you do not like something, whatever it might be, just move away and

live. There is no secret.

It is extremely natural that we are touched by things that interest us. Even though there is no eyesore in

this so-human feeling. Better than impose any vision, it is to convince with good examples. No one needs

to believe and feel the very same things that you do, because not even about the biological issue, we are

equal, why should we like the same music, books, films, colors…?

The great Oscar Wilde already said “Art is the most intense mode of individualism that the world has

known.” Imagine if the artist had not shared his own vision about so many themes, we would lose many

fantastic works and great classics.

Thus, once empathy is not otherness, respecting is not accepting, individualism is not egoism. It is fair to

think about others, but not before having something to exchange with them. And try not to embrace the

whole world; nothing seems to be so false than trying to please others. When we look more at ourselves,

the habit of looking at the others becomes less and less workaday, and the judgments become nothing

more than opinions.

Always take care, everyone means so many people and the collective thought is quite dangerous or, often,

shallow.

Thinking about the others means being enough free to respect them and not stop being yourself, whoever

you are. Because we are not equal – we will always be similar.

TO THINK

13 MUNDANO mag

CONTACTE US: mundanomagazine@gmail.com

MUNDANO mag

14 MUNDANO mag

To be MUNDANO

SpecialSpecial BrazilBrazil

15 MUNDANO mag

SpecialSpecial BrazilBrazil Rio de Janeiro by Ryan Bevan

SÃO CRISTOVÃO FAIR

A tip for those who are in Rio de Janeiro is

the São Cristovão Fair sums up all that is best

from the brazilian northeast. Food, shopping,

music and dance are the main ingredients of

this cultural melting pot. The fair takes place

from Tuesday to Thursday: 10a.m. to 6p.m.

(free admission, except holidays).

Translation: Raí Santos

16 MUNDANO mag

To be MUNDANO

SpecialSpecial BrazilBrazil

17 MUNDANO mag

SpecialSpecial BrazilBrazil Iguaçú Falls by Ryan Bevan

18 MUNDANO mag

To be MUNDANO

SpecialSpecial BrazilBrazil

19 MUNDANO mag

SpecialSpecial BrazilBrazil Juréia by Anderson Leal

20 MUNDANO mag

There is an interesting conflict brewing in En-

gland involving a photographer, Wikimedia and

a monkey. The basic story is that David Slater

was trying to take a photo of a crested black

macaque. One of the monkeys took a camera

and took hundreds of photos. A set of these tur-

ned out to be the (now-famous) monkey selfies

and appeared everywhere across the web. My

favorite is the one with the toothy grin. David Slater claims copyright in the photo and meanwhileWikimedia Commons argues: “This

file is in the public domain, because as the work of a non-human animal, it has no human author in whom copyright is vested.” If Mr Slater has copyright he would obtain royalties for its use but if the photo is in the public domain then anyone can use it for free.

Copyright belongs to the creator or author of an original work. That seems easy enough – but what is an author? Despite all the painting goril-las, dogs and elephants, I want to stick with photography. We tend to think of the author as the person who took the shot,

Monkey selfies bring copyright to the forefront Mathias Klang

21 MUNDANO mag

Copyright belongs to the creator or author of an original work. That seems easy enough – but what is an author? Despite all the painting goril-las, dogs and elephants, I want to stick with photography. We tend to think of the author as the person who took the shot, who pressed the button that makes the camera go “click”. But is it that easy?

Some photographers “direct” the shot while their assistants create the lighting and operate the camera and yet we agree that they maintain copyright despite their lack of button pushing. Could Mr. Slater be the director? Well no, not really. The monkey was not directed or promp-ted. In fact, Mr. Slater did not even know that the monkey was going to take his camera. There

is no director-assistant relationship here.

In some cases the camera is automatic and does all the work but the photographer uses software to manipulate the image after it has been taken – but we do not think that the camera manufac-turer has copyright. But there would then be an argument for some form of artistic intent, visi-on, or drive of the photographer.

But this cannot be done when animals take the image. While the gorillas mentioned above may appear to have a communicative process in their artwork this cannot be applied to the mon-key selfie situation, as she would be unaware of the nature of photography. Obviously this is an assumption on my part but I think it’s a safe one to make.

The monkey selfie series of photos were not planned or created. They appeared by accident and this means that nobody gets to claim co-pyright. Sure, we could be extremely generous and argue that the monkey has copyright – not all artists are aware of the greatness of their work. But then the question is how to negotiate the rights. The monkey cannot give permission for others to use the images, nor can the mon-key assign a copyright organization to handle the rights.

So we are left with the situation where the monkey maybe has copyright of the image but cannot give permission and therefore nobody should be able to use it. But this is moot since the monkey cannot sue abusers or take them to court. Or the photo belongs to no one and le-gally appears in a vacuum…and exists in the pu-blic domain.

www.commonsmachinery.se/2014/08/monkey-

22 MUNDANO mag

Visit the wherever you are

23 MUNDANO mag

Visit the wherever you are

24 MUNDANO mag

The Body Mass Index (BMI) Says Nothing About Your Health By Peter Janiszewski, Ph.D.

If you go to your physician’s office and inquire about your weight status, he or she will measure

your height and weight to derive your BMI (weight in kg divided by height in m squared). Then

they will compare your BMI to that of established criteria to decide whether you are underweight

(30 kg/m2) . Often times, this measure alone determines whether or not you receive lifestyle tre-

atment.

But how useful is this measure anyways? What does it tell you about your health? And finally,

how helpful is it to measure when assessing the effect of a lifestyle (diet/exercise) intervention?

Photos: Studio CL Art

25 MUNDANO mag

Before I get into the various limitations of BMI, I

must point out that the measure is quite useful

across large populations, as it is well correlated

with the degree of adiposity, and of course it is ex-

tremely simple to measure in clinical practice.

Nevertheless, here are some of the key issues with

BMI, particularly when used on an individual basis.

1. BMI does not differentiate between the

Michelin Man and The Terminator

Ok, we might as well just get this abundantly obvi-

ous problem out of the way. I have heard countless

times how one buff celebrity or another (e.g. Tom

Cruise, Arnold Schwarzenegger, The Rock etc.)

would be classified as overweight or obese accor-

ding to their BMI due to their excess amount of

muscle. Yes, this is absolutely true. BMI is a mea-

sure of relative weight; fat mass and muscle mass

are not distinguished. Here’s what is equally true:

the large majority of the general population with a

BMI in the overweight or obese range does not look

like Jerry Maguire or the Terminator. Also, if you

seek advice from your physician about your “excess

weight”, in case you have body dysmorphia and

cannot yourself decide, they will quickly be able to

assess whether your excess weight is due to your

bulging muscles or your rolls of adipose tissue. So

while this is an obvious problem, I would argue not

the main issue.

2. BMI does not differentiate between ap-

ples and pears

For over 60 years, we have known that indepen-

dent of how heavy a person is, the distribution of

their body weight, or more generally the shape of

their body is a key predictor of health risk. It is now

well established that individuals who deposit much

of their body weight around their midsection, the

so called apple-shaped, are at much greater risk of

disease and early mortality in contrast to the so cal-

led pear-shaped, who carry their weight more pe-

ripherally, particularly in the lower body. Thus, two

individuals with a BMI of 32 kg/m2 could have

drastically different body shapes, and thus varying

risk of disease and early mortality.

Fortunately, a very simple measure allows you or

your physician to decide whether your elevated

BMI is of the apple or pear variety: waist circumfe-

rence. Current thresholds suggest that a waist cir-

cumference above 88 cm in women and 102cm in

men denotes abdominal obesity. Interestingly, for

the same BMI level, those individuals with an ele-

vated waist circumference have a greater risk of di-

abetes, cardiovascular disease, mortality, and nu-

merous other health outcomes. Thus, as studies

from our laboratory have consistently suggested,

waist circumference may be a more important me-

asure of obesity and health risk than BMI. Curren-

tly, most researchers would agree that waist cir-

cumference should be measured along with BMI to

adequately classify obesity-related health risk. >

26 MUNDANO mag

Mark Manalaysay

27 MUNDANO mag

You can measure your own waist circumference by using a tape mea-

sure and wrapping it around your abdomen, at the level of the top of

your hip bones. Make sure you measure at the end of exhalation,

without sucking in your gut – you’re only fooling yourself!

3. BMI does not always budge in response to lifestyle chan-

ge

Given the number of papers my supervisor, Dr. Ross, and I have pu-

blished on the topic, I would argue this is the biggest drawback of

using BMI: it doesn’t always change even though you may be getting

healthier. This is particularly so if you adopt a physically active lifes-

tyle, along with a balanced diet, but are not necessarily cutting a

whole lot of calories. This lack of change in BMI or body weight is all

too often interpreted as a failure, resulting in the disappointed indi-

vidual resuming their inactive lifestyle and unhealthy eating pat-

terns.

However, as we have argued most recently in a paper in the Canadi-

an Journal of Cardiology, several lines of evidence suggest that

weight loss or changes in BMI are not absolutely necessary to obser-

ve substantial health benefit from a healthy lifestyle. Thus, an appa-

rent resistance to weight-loss should never be a reason for stopping

your healthy behaviours.

First, it is well established that increasing physical activity and asso-

ciated improvement in cardiorespiratory fitness are associated with

profound reductions in coronary heart disease and related mortality

independent of weight or BMI. Second, exercise (even a single sessi-

on) is associated with substantial reduction in several cardiometabo-

lic risk factors (such as blood pressure, glucose tolerance, blood li-

pids, etc.) despite minimal or no change in body weight. Third, waist

circumference and abdominal fat (arguably, the most dangerous fat)

can be substantively reduced (10-20%) in response to exercise with

minimal or no weight loss. In fact, significant reductions in fat mass

often occur concurrent with equal increases in muscle mass in res-

ponse to physical activity – equal but opposite (and beneficial!)

changes which are not detected by alterations in body weight on the

bathroom scale, and thus BMI.

So in the end, while BMI surely has its strengths in ease of use and

pretty good reliability in large populations, on an individual basis,

the greater focus should be on healthy behaviors: physical activity

and a healthy diet. And if you must measure something, check your

waist circumference.

Reference:

Ross R, & Janiszewski PM (2008). Is weight loss the optimal target for obesity-

related cardiovascular disease risk reduction? The Canadian journal of cardiology,

24 Suppl D PMID: 18787733

www.blogs.plos.org/obesitypanacea/2014/08/05/the-body-mass-index-bmi-says-nothing

-about-your-health/

28 MUNDANO mag

MUNDANO MUNDANO Mag wants to know what you

think, how you react to the world around you.

Send us your text, your story, your way to inter-

pret what you feel. We want to see how you ex-

press yourself. We will publish in the next issue

a text from a reader, it doesn’t matter the sub-

ject, what matters it’s the way you think:

mundanomagazine@gmail.com

Translation: Raí Santos

29 MUNDANO mag

MUNDANO mag

30 MUNDANO mag

She drastically changed her skin color with a product created

by herself, she could reach the American and African hit pa-

rades, she faced lots of health issues and says she’s engaged

in social causes. This is Dencia, a Cameroonian who con-

quered and un-conquered America. Love her or leave her. >

Text: Anderson Leal

Ilustration: Beatriz Figueiredo

Translation: Raí Santos

31 MUNDANO mag

32 MUNDANO mag

Who sees the singer Dencia on

the shows and music videos

must notice her skin color

changings.

The Cameroonian girl boasts

now a faded skin, lifeless and

with a heavy make up on it.

The American critics say she is

a mixture of Lady GaGa and

Nicki Minaj.

Her songs are quite good;

some hits have even gained

popularity. However her obses-

sion with changing her skin col-

or has become more famous

than her own voice and her

typical hip-hop swing.

Although she is not from a mis-

erable family like most part of

the Africans, the singer has al-

ready gone through tough

times in her career: at the age

of 16 she discovered that her

parents were actually her

grandparents who adopted her

once she was still a baby, and

that her biological mother it

was recognized as her sister.

Dencia has moreover discov-

ered a cyst in one of her

breasts and has undergone a

surgery to remove it, before

this, at the age of 5 she had a

hard illness in her throat which

unabled her to sing in the

church choir, having postponed

a dream of hers.

As a teenager, she opened a

clothes boutique and later

moved to the US with her family

where she studied at Buea Uni-

versity and has also graduated

in the Fashion Institute of De-

sign and Merchandising.

This victory and overcoming life

do not match with the self-

appearance- rejection image. It

is thought that she has over-

come the prejudice she has

suffered according to what she

had conquered while she was

so young, but the fact is that

she is still somehow controver-

sial. >

33 MUNDANO mag

Ph

oto

: divu

lgatio

n/W

hiten

iciou

s

34 MUNDANO mag

Since 2011 Dencia figures among

American superstar, having presenting

herself at the mainstream showbiz

events over the US. But nothing is so

commented and discussed than her

own product, named Whitenicious, a

dangerous skin whitener which prom-

ises nearly perfect and instant whiten-

ing. She ensures that the cream is

used to whiten the skin stains: “the

cream is for dark stains, but if you feel

that all your body is a dark stain, use it

on all of it” says the Cameroonian.

Doctors all over the world warn people

about the issues the product might

cause, among them: cancer, lupus

and even DNA malnutrition, injuring

the product users in the next genera-

tions. The polemic has increased even

more when groups against racism and

celebrities all over the world con-

demned Dencia for her product.

Even having prohibitions and warn-

ings, the product has been quite sold

in the US, Africa and India and some

Brazilian girls seem to be interested in

it according to what they post on their

social networks. The imminent risk of

a serious disease does not keep those

girls away from trying to be free from

prejudice.

Densia’s last attempt was trying to do-

nate one million dollars to help in Ebola

combat, even though she could not dis-

associate her negative image from Whit-

enicious.

The product is still new; although it is

believed that in a short time some peo-

ple will suffer the consequences of this

Before

35 MUNDANO mag

‘crazy’ act to be free from the stigma and

prejudice suffered for being black. Ac-

ceptance is something hard to be earned,

mainly nowadays when the explicit preju-

dice is unnoticed. None of these contra-

dictions demotivate the singer who has

earned much more with the selling of the

product – and she defends it tooth and

nails whenever it is criticized.

Is Dencia a mere reflection of a hypocrite

and conservative society or just an au-

dacious marketing ploy?

Photos: divulgation

Making Off : Super Girl

36 MUNDANO mag

Do not forget:

Also in Portuguese

37 MUNDANO mag

Visit our Facebook page

MUNDANO Mag

38 MUNDANO mag

"'Would you tell me which way I ought to go from here?' asked Alice. 'That depends a go-od deal on where you want to get,' said the Cat. 'I really don't care where' replied Alice. 'Then it doesn't much matter which way you go,' said the Cat."

Lewis Carroll Alice's Adventures in Won-derland (1865)

39 MUNDANO mag

40 MUNDANO mag