I wasn't lying when I told you the street art comps were at full force on my side of the pond. The summer in Mexico brings the best out of the graffiti artists, both because they get commissions to make specific pieces in huge walls in the downtown part of every touristic magic town in order to increase tourism and enhance the magic vibe of the place, but also because many locals decide to chip in to the movement by donating their house walls to any local artist who is willing to make a kick ass painting on top of an old, rusty or damaged graffiti. It embellishes the scenery, the local home owner gets a wall-pimp, the artist get's to show their work and promote their abilities - looking to get a commission - and the town gets more art pieces all around. It's a triple win for everyone.
Oh, and of course it is a win for me, the street art community on Hive, and the overall content creation scene on this blockchain because I get to go on saturday and sunday hunts trying to find these new pieces in order to share them with you.
If you don't know what a magic town in Mexico is, let me copy/paste my definition from a previous post:
I mentioned in an early comp but I guess I'll add that again: The term Magic town was coined around a decade ago when the National Tourism entity was striving to attract tourism from within Mexico, aiming to encourage Mexicans from every corner of the country to spend a holiday inside the country, keeping the money influx inside the national territory and spreading the wealth to poorer states. At the beginning it worked like a charm, every Magic town had a lot to offer - culturally, historically, socially or intellectually - and ever Mexican knew that if a town had this badge, it was worth spending a weekend there getting to explore their corners and discover their secrets.
The problem was that after a few years, and after seeing how successful this idea was for the towns who got the title because they deserved it, more town halls decided they wanted in the bonanza, even if they had nothing to offer to the tourists. These towns either made a half-ass effort to make their town appear magical, or they simply bribed the central entity that gave out these titles and well, you can imagine how it affected the term magic town.
Nowadays, every little town with an old church or a small ancient hacienda has the title and it has depreciated and lost its meaning, hurting the tourism in the towns that really deserve the term.
Cholula is one of the towns that truly deserves this title, not only because of how much street art one can find, but because it is home to the biggest pyramid in the world - it's below the city though, so you can't really explore it, although there are some ancient Aztec ruins within the city - and also because it is home to the highest amount of churches per square kilometer. Pretty sick huh?
Anyway, Cholula is a synonym for street art, but I had already shared on Hive everything there was to share regarding this topic in this city, but as I said a few days ago, the summer arrived in Cholula and with it, a huge amount of new graffiti pieces, which means I have a lot to share with you once again!
For these pieces I was able to talk with some of the artists and I also did some research, because some of these graffities are part of a color corridor initiative by the local government to empower tourism.
Pyrotechnics in Cholula are used to honor and celebrate the saints and patrons in the patron parties, which is a ludic and religious practice: the ludic part lies in the superficial and contemplative dimension, and the religious part lies in the profound and symbolic dimension, turning them into a multicolor experience that turns sacred. Pyrotechnics are vital for the social and religious life in Mexico. Without it, there can't be a party.
The kitchen is a place for gathering, where the excuse of sharing food becomes the magical moment to share your day. The first contact of the Mexican food with your palate transports the person into a time loaded with history, tradition and family. The food is not just sustenance, it means party, ceremony, ritual, and nostalgia of home: it is love. It's reconnaissance to our cultural identity.
The owner of this wall shared with the artist some of his memories from Cholula, the old and ancient town where I found this piece: When the owner was just a little kid, it was extremely common to send the younglings to the fields to take care of the cattle while bringing the home pets with them so they could have a blast; back then Cholula was a much, much smaller and way less touristy town and the rural activities were an important part of the daily life of it's inhabitants.
This mural represents the endless domestic possibilities of mud and pottery: vases, pots, vessels and even plates. Back then when the locals were indigenas and not the current population, these home pieces used to be found on every home. Most of these ancient pieces are safeguarded by the INAH (Archaeological entity funded by the government).
Don Mariano, and man who lives in Cholula since he was born, has his whole family in Cholula. When he was young he started an agriculture and livestock, but nowadays the family's main business is milk products. In the front of his home, which is now owned by Frida, there used to be a barn with more than one hundred cows, which will live forever depicted in this outer wall.
A hummingbird rests on top of a Yellow bell branch, they are both a vital part of the Puebla ecosystem since ancient times, where thriving fertile grounds that host for several decades now, hundreds of wild species and the crops prosper, surrounded by mountains and hills that serve them as a natural refuge against the growing urbanization.
Blessed be our earth and the hands that work in and with it. Intercede, oh mother, in the name of the crops and those who nurture them. Support our feet when we are tired of this uncertain and unknown future. Let your protection be felt by those who pray for you, and by those who don't.
I hope you liked this compilation, it was a rather short one compared to my other comps but I realized that the bigger I make this comps, the less attention the pieces in particular will get, so I have decided to leave these comps at 30 photos per post.
If you enjoyed this street art compilation, then you are in for a wild ride, because I have 17 more from all around the world, you can check them out here:
