A few years ago, while I was scanning Tonico’s files, I came across with an image, actually two, that really captured my attention. The first one was kind of surreal. A child divided the frame with an ox, or it was a cow. The animal in the foreground, standing in the shade, with a watchful and indecipherable look, seems to pop up from the scene. In the background, highlighted by an early morning sunbeam, a boy awaking, disregarding completely the presence of the photographer. A magical moment ... The second picture shows the same frame, this time with a, somehow, more realistic feel. The cow's white face is gone, so is the boy’s yawn, but the second plan was emphasized, and the observant look, this time, is in charge of a man in turban. Furthermore, this second image also unveils an item, which brought me great satisfaction: a Coca-Cola™ icebox. It is good to say, I am, for about twenty years now, collector of the mark memorabilia, and as if that were not enough, I’ve married a woman who shares this visual passion with me.

As days goes by I was finding other images, which contained the famous logo. The photos cover almost thirty years spread over four different decades and at least three continents. In my wife's birthday I decided to prepare some panels, using three of these images, as a gift to her. Thinking about the variety of locations and dates that only three pictures embrace (Pushkar, India, 1977; Stockholm, Sweden, 1981 and Arroio Grande, Brazil, 2001) it reminded me of a TV ad, in which an alien is unmasked, because he doesn’t know the name of the best known soft drink on Earth. The play was one of the first to introduce the slogan "Always" in the early 1990s. As this collection, above all, shows the consistency of human behavior and emotions, resemblances that socio-cultural differences and even the years are not able to hide, I thought that this was the perfect word to summarize the objective of this work. For the reason that, in addition to load this idea of constancy and, why not say, omnipresence, it would also serve as a reference to our most noticeable element of connection between the images, the Coca-Cola™ brand, a visual link between different places and times. In the same token, I’ve decided to paint in red color, over the b&w pictures, all “Coca-Cola™ red" that appeared.

Camila loved it. And after the pictures were hang on our living room wall I showed them for the Tonico. He also enjoyed the idea, so we’ve decided to continue the project.

We would like to declare that this work is not an acclamation or advertising, nor any kind of criticism on the Coca-Cola™, Coca-Cola Company, or any of its subsidiaries or distributors. It is only the finding of a fact. The success of a product and its marketing actions, which make a logo in white letters on a red background, one of the most popular and recognizable symbols of our age. It was, as already stated, our intention is to use this universal icon, as the visible tip of an iceberg, of constancy and similarities, which are hidden through all the images of this collection.