Urban-Social The need to express, to tell the other something, has always accompanied man. Perhaps the best example of this are the cave paintings of primitive men that show, through dissimilar lines and shapes, the daily life of all the continents. We could affirm, then, that rock art is the first antecedent of graffiti, there the link between man and the wall would be born.
Associated with vandalism, disorder, and invasiveness, graffiti was accused of being a punishable practice for many years. Thus, this type of urban art displays were stigmatized and pointed out as harmful by various social sectors. However, the Graffiti District initiative integrated the public, the artistic, the citizen and the private and, for almost 8 months, various areas of the city were evaluated, to determine that the Graffiti District would be established in the Industrial Zone, a rarely visited sector , but with large mural spaces typical of the wineries in the area, a place where there is also a bicycle path and an important public transport offer.
The artistic conceptualization sought to impact society in a positive way, giving a 180 ° turn to history, with representative themes such as the eastern hills, women, nature and the social context. Thus, 14 walls with a length of 1,500 meters served as a canvas for 25 artists (15 local, 2 national and 8 foreign) to fill the District Graffiti initiative in Bogota with shape and color.
Urban art has come to stay since then and, with pride, we can say that the capital is one of the largest open-air galleries in Latin America. From the hand of artists, fantastic creatures emerged, expressive faces, magical animals and particular shapes; they all cohabit between cold concrete, clean brick and the high platforms of Puente Aranda in Bogota.
Today the Graffiti District is a mandatory stop for tourists visiting the city. The undaunted walls were transformed into allegories of life and nature. The passage of time made multi-toned landscapes perch on the walls and many artists gave free rein to their imagination. The stencil and the spray gave the area a special shine, achieving a liberation of art in the city that today is constituted as a cultural heritage of all.
In Bogota, the Graffiti District is synonymous with inclusion and diversity. The intervention of urban artists has meant a change in uses, customs and perceptions in the city. This goes beyond painting a “drawing on a wall”, in the Grafitti District, the formation of happy communities, comfortable with their surroundings and, without a doubt, more secure in themselves and in the other is the priority. Street art fills you with interesting reflections and, through graffiti, you find new values (suddenly, you also find some lost ones), so new meanings begin to flow.
The Graffiti District has been recognized by prestigious newspapers such as the New York Times and El Pais de España. Bogota has acquired the nickname of the Latin American capital of Graffiti, thanks to the exhibition of urban art as an interdisciplinary cultural practice that surpasses any type of stigma.
The diversity of styles available in the capital of the country is quite wide; in each town in the city there are walls with lines, scratches, shapes and colors that serve as axes of expression. Throughout the city, artists use different formats and techniques to express what they feel: sprays, vinyls, stencils, stickers, posters and even sculptures are samples of urban art in Bogota.
Strolling through areas such as the Americas with Street 61, La Candelaria, the Central Cemetery, Avenue 30 with Avenue 19, Avenue 5 with Street 65 and Avenue 7 with Street 51 will give you a different artistic perspective of Bogota, they will fill you with reasons to fall in love with the city and its people.
Walking through the city is like going through an illustrated book of stories; this is the current appearance of the capital thanks to the urban artists who have managed to exalt with “Graffiti District” the deepest desires of communities eager to express themselves. The walls of the neighborhoods constitute a medium with a voice, a canvas in constant transformation, a painting that changes, which is renewed year after year. Because in the great District the streets tell stories and the walls speak, so it is time to listen to them.
