Manguetown: Vergel

Between ground and tide, Vergel do Lago [Alagoas, Brazil] stands as one of Maceió’s most symbolic territories. Situated on the edge of the Mundaú Lagoon, it is known as a bairro lagunar — a lagoon district — for its amphibious, complex, and resilient character, carrying the city’s contradictions and strengths: between the urban and the natural, the real and the poetic, scarcity and invention.

Born from the old estates that once bordered the lagoon, Vergel evolved with the city’s expansion, through landfills and dikes that reshaped the landscape but never severed its bond with the water. Life here beats to the rhythm of the tides: in the stilt houses and fishing boats, in the hands of shellfish gatherers who peel sustenance and time, and in the children who play ball on the asphalt and swim in the lagoon.

The neighbourhood reveals a social geography marked by inequality yet animated by cultural vitality. Street fairs and festivals, the sounds of boats and voices, form a sonic and symbolic landscape that keeps the collective memory of the lagoon alive. In Vergel, the landscape is not merely a backdrop — it is a medium. Water, mangrove, and body share the same territory, shaping an amphibious way of life that challenges the boundaries of the formal city.

More than a periphery, Vergel is a mirror. It reflects the layers of Maceió’s history, the occupation of its edges, the struggle for housing, the right to the city, the collective imagination, and the poetics of survival. It is a territory of everyday invention, where the mangrove becomes a verb: to resist, to nourish, to transform.

Written by Vivian Gomes and Rogério Felix
Photography by Renner Boldrino