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| My favorite graffiti I've found to date en Cerro Alegre, Valparaíso. |
As Americans, we think of graffiti as a negative thing. Hours of time, loads of money, and the energy of many went into making this (insert graffiti-ed item here), only for someone to come and leave their mark on it. "Defacing the property", they would say, "disrespecting the community and those in it". Latin America, specifically Valparaíso, doesn't feel the same.
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| The side of a quirky cafe in Cerro Alegre. |
Valparaíso is port city at heart. Views of downtown are full of ships moving around the harbor and large shipping containers being moved from place to place on the coast. In the 19th century, Valparaíso was incredibly important, as the port linked the Atlantic and Pacific oceans through the Straight of Magellan. But the opening of the Panama Canal made the port city less significant and thus, the economy dipped. It's said that during this time, wealthy families and individuals abandoned the area, leaving large numbers of people living in poverty and many starving artists. Chilean artists took to walls, stairways, alleys, and almost anything else, to express their opinions, display their art, or speak out against things that they might not otherwise say. It's said that graffiti artists liked Valparaíso in particular for its narrow alleys and streets, allowing for a clean getaway (back when graffiti was a bad thing).
Today, graffiti still serves the same purposes, but it isn't considered bothersome, it's considered fine art. My Spanish Conversation professor, a native of Valparaíso, told me that nowadays, graffiti is so highly revered that it has its own set of rules among artists. For example, it's considered taboo for one artist to paint over the work of another. The only exception for this rule is when the content of the graffiti is inappropriate or if it contains something really bad. Art is also commissioned by restaurants, hostels, and really anyone else wanting extra attention to their business. After the economic decline, Valparaíso started putting more emphasis into tourism. Neighborhoods such as Cerro Alegre, Cerro Bellavista, and Cerro Concepción has loads of tourists roaming around every single day with cafes, hostels, and gift shops in the area reaping the benefit. The more colorful the business, the more instagram photos, the more visitors coming in.
Probably my favorite form of graffiti though, is political expression. Chile has a rich history, like any other country, some of it's good and some is not. Up until 1990, Chile was under the rule of a dictator, Augusto Pinochet. Media censorship, disappearances and killing of anyone in opposition (Pablo Neruda was assassinated as part of this), torturing and exile, and many other human rights violates occurred during this time. It was a horrible dark time in Chilean history and some of it is still written on the walls (literally).
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| Salvador Allende, the president that was overthrown by Pinochet's regime. |
I didn't take this picture, but I really want to find where this is. This is a mural of Salvador Allende, the last president to hold office before Pinochet's dictatorship. The people had mixed opinions of him, some thinking he was a reckless Marxist that wanted Chile to be another Cuba (Fidel Castro was a dear friend of his), while the other side saw him as a another victim Pinochet's regime.
Though I haven't see anything as explicit as this, I've seen pro-feminism, anti-abortion, anti-fascism, anti-sexual violence and many others around the city.
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| Anti-Sexual Violence, right in front of my school. |
Today, graffiti still serves the same purposes, but it isn't considered bothersome, it's considered fine art. My Spanish Conversation professor, a native of Valparaíso, told me that nowadays, graffiti is so highly revered that it has its own set of rules among artists. For example, it's considered taboo for one artist to paint over the work of another. The only exception for this rule is when the content of the graffiti is inappropriate or if it contains something really bad. Art is also commissioned by restaurants, hostels, and really anyone else wanting extra attention to their business. After the economic decline, Valparaíso started putting more emphasis into tourism. Neighborhoods such as Cerro Alegre, Cerro Bellavista, and Cerro Concepción has loads of tourists roaming around every single day with cafes, hostels, and gift shops in the area reaping the benefit. The more colorful the business, the more instagram photos, the more visitors coming in. 
