Art for We, the People

Art challenges our thinking, stimulates our minds, and lifts our spirits. In difficult times art can be a solace and can bring perspective and hope. I have been thinking a lot about"We, the People" these days, and I celebrate anything that helps the People.

Today I am celebrating public art, especially murals. All murals make some kind of political or social statement, and I want to know their stories. Our appreciation deepened for this public art form after taking guided walking tours of street art in New Orleans and Athens, places with deep and complex histories.

Our smallish city of Alcobaça has several large murals as well as other public art.

Portuguese artist Pantónio has been commissioned to paint murals in numerous countries, and many are enormous. He painted one of our old bridges and along both walls, featuring inter-twining swallows. These reflect the most famous love story of Europe: the love tragedy of King Dom Pedro and Inez de Castro. See beautiful professional images of Pantonion painting this mural.

Here in Portugal you see ceramic swallows on many walls and in many colors. Swallows represent love and loyalty, family and home – especially poignant given Portugal’s long history of emigration and wide diaspora. About 20% of Portuguese people are currently living outside of the country, not counting the vast diaspora of past generations. (A topic for a future blog.)  Swallows represents longing to return to the homeland and to the enduring bonds of family and community.

The mural above was created using hand-built sculpted 3-D ceramic tiles. It covers a large building in the old-town section of Alcobaça. Cravos (red carnations) represent the April 25 Carnation Revolution of 1974, when Portugal’s military overthrew the 50 year dictatorship and opened the door for democracy. This poem about carnations actually predates the revolution by over 50 years.

So, what is mural art, and what is graffiti? How do they differ?

Murals are a specific work of art usually commissioned by a building owner to beautify a space, convey a message, or tell a story. They often aim for a cohesive aesthetic that complements the surrounding environment. Several more murals in our town:

Graffiti art is done ad-hoc, un-paid for, by unknown artists on public buildings, often with spray cans or stencils, and includes written slogans or propaganda in graffiti genres for the community. Tagging is also ad-hoc and often consists of messagges to other taggers.

from the internet

Fortunately, these are not "ours," and our town has very few tags or graffiti. We do have a lot of art.

As always, let's all take steps to increase peace, justice, and love.

Love Loud and Be Weird. Penelope and Tim