Visionary

This time it was time for me to take a risk and step out of my comfort zone and try something new. I had wanted t o play around with shapes and tessellation but also the concept of fragmentation and the whole. And so I ventured out and took on a wall with an idea and concept but no defined idea or finished product.

It was great to manage a complete wall single handedly without the help of others as a good way to test out my discipline. Having prepared the wall the day before it was time to take the leap and also to face the fear myself.  To the average artist the notion of putting your art on the wall for public viewing and having the potential of it being rejected should not really be daunting but it has been a giant in my thinking for quite some time.

I started and the process seemed relatively plain sailing and then it came to putting paint onto the wall. I guess there was no going back form this point and I had to make this move sooner or later so it happened. As colour hit the walls it was a interesting transition from being afraid of rejection to being free to walk away and not caring too much if it came out ‘right’ or not. It was incredibly freeing to let the art just be what it is and not have to explain it and justify it. 

And as I was merrily getting covered in paint two of the youth came over and wanted to discover something new. Without hesitation they joined in and I realised I had reached that point where I no longer cared about it being mine nor that it had to be of significance. It became a shared piece and experience.  More than this though I realized I had built the relationships with some of the youth now that they no longer hesitate to talk to me and they don’t need encouragement to get involved. They had the confidence to step out with me and we had a relationship of trust and creativity. The final art piece was no longer the end goal.

And it’ s still a work in progress….. I’m not sure I am fully satisfied with the final outcome but I am happy to walk away and leave it be as it is. 

Emma Ramano

 

FELIZ - HAPPY

Emma, volunteer from the UK, writes about her experience creating grafitti with the teenagers on one of the walls of Proyecto Horizonte:

It had been in the pipeline for a while and had been waiting for the green light. Artists Pablo (MeXist) and Emma (Lil´em), we had had the chance to come and meet the young guys who wanted to be involved in  the graffiti wall and enlist them for the big wall. We came with previous work from ourselves and showed them what we could do and what we were about. The boys seemed very receptive so it was on!

On Saturday the wall needed to be primed with white latex ready for the Sunday to be sprayed. On Sunday MeXist arrived at 8.30am with friends to start sketching the outline and then I came to start the work a little later. At 10.30am we started with two boys and gave them the initial tips and skills for spraying a wall and how to coat well and see the process through from start to finish. It was as hot day and the boys showed great commitment and dedication to stick out 6 hours of spraying in the heat.

The boys started well and then an hour in we had an influx of more boys coming to get involved. It was great to have a crowd and enthusiastic team. We moved on from filling in to adding the detail and the outline and with each boy getting involved the time went by very quickly. MeXist added the final details and shading and then it came to tagging and putting the names on the wall.

All in all the day was a great success and the work shows for itself. The boys learnt a lot of new skills and techniques and hopefully were inspired to think about how graffiti can be used for art and not just territory tags. We were really pleased with the young guys and their work and special credit to Chura and Brayan who committed a lot of time to seeing the work from start to finish and are definite potential artists for the next graffiti wall that we do.