Title of the work: Emberá Community
Location: Downtown Medellín, Maracaibo mural, Colombia. ###
Date of the work: January-February 2026
Artist: 
Greetings, friends of Hive, and there always comes a time when “the good son always returns home.” I return to my favourite community, the one that makes me take the time and space to enjoy art more, the streets of my city, and write more carefully and diligently about urban art. Today I bring you the work of a female artist who used a mural to express what she had surely been mulling over in her mind for some time, a work that, just by looking at it, you can feel its movement. Those of us who have had to migrate and settle elsewhere to start over know and feel this mural very well. It also has an essential component, which I know quite well, that indigenous movement that leaves marks, stories, and essence, so it is a beautiful work and very necessary to see and appreciate.
This artist has given us a striking 8 × 3.60-meter mural in the famous space called Mural Maracaibo in downtown Medellín, Colombia. The mural depicts the groups and long walks of the Emberá indigenous people in the city, who, like many other indigenous groups, leave their communities to settle in the most populated and emerging areas in search of what they do not have in their settlements. You can see them as an exact copy of what they really are; they are always grouped together, their clothes are very colourful, the women are always in charge of the children, they move quickly, silently, almost imperceptibly, they blend in very well with everyone else, but without a doubt their essence stands out to me and makes me observe them and remember where I come from and where I am going, so it is a special mural. I have said it many times in this community: urban art that expresses indigenous communities and indigenous expressions touches my heart.
-Collage made from my phone, it is neither painted nor distributed like this on the original mural.-
I am very impressed by the artist's technique; she does not use spray paint, as her mural is a street painting, so technically it is urban art. She uses a conventional paintbrush, the classic kind, which can be seen in her fairly grid-like strokes, giving a very robust and rough appearance to the people she emulates, but she manages to give the strokes on the indigenous people's faces that original shape; they look serious, almost as if they were not the same as the rest. This artist captures that essence, the use of colours. It looks very colourful, but if you look closely, she uses the same colours in many of the figures. The mural looks multicoloured, but there is an aspect of unity that captivates me, and above all, it has mobility. This space is a place where many people pass through, so this group of indigenous people also walks among us; it was a well-thought-out choice, a special mural.
This week, Medellín is hosting the third edition of the urban art festival, so I have several things to show you from internationally renowned graffiti artists. You'll be seeing me around here more often. Thank you for reading my work and for always supporting it.
💻 Written by me.
📸 Camera and editing: Tecno Camon 20 pro
🖇️ Translator DeepL
