In “7.536 steps (for a geography of proximity)”, Parra records the route she makes, carrying only a small radio while walking from the central region of Sao Paulo to some place in the eastern and poorest region of the city. In the few kilometers that separates the point of departure and her arrival, we witness gradual changes in the landscape of Sao Paulo.

Those changes derive not only from the visible decrease in the quality of urban equipment, but also from what is written on the signboards of many stores - in which, more frequently, Spanish is read instead of the expected Portuguese - as well as on the faces of the inhabitants and merchants - whose features are characteristic of those originated from the Andean region. Also the language of the news and songs captured by the radio that Parra carries is gradually changing, from Portuguese to Spanish, revealing one of the many pirate radio stations that serves the Bolivian community in Sao Paulo.

With the movement of her body, the artist gradually reveals the strong presence of this andean community in Sao Paulo. Offering images and sounds of the city that otherwise could not be seen or heard. She digs, in Sao Paulo, a place of alterity defined both by spoken language and by (low) remuneration for work and, sometimes, by illegal citizen status, challenging established notions of distance and difference between neighboring countries. She crosses borders within the city and invents, in counted steps, a "geography for proximity”.

[Text by Moacir dos Anjos]