Street art in Medellín, Colombia – in pictures

Photographer Juancho Torres tours the streets of Comuna 13 in the once notorious city, capturing the graffiti and murals that adorn buildings and walls

Juancho Torres/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images

Twenty-five years ago, Medellín was the most dangerous city on earth, but now tourists explore its comunas (slums)
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San Javier, or Comuna 13, has been revitalised. Art projects have led to the appearance of murals and graffiti on nearly every street corne *********************************************


Over the years, the authorities have invested in cleaning up the area, improving education and transport, and creating community initiatives *********************************************

Medellín is now home to spaces for art, poetry and drama, as well as public libraries and an ecological park *********************************************

The city’s bleak past seems far away as tourists join walking tours to view street art *********************************************

Between 1990 and 1993, more than 6,000 people were murdered annually in Medellín, and not just in the slums *********************************************

Skeletons are painted on a wall at the top of a slide in Comuna 13 *********************************************

Local government has been actively involved in the Medellín is Painted for Life project, employing artists to paint murals *********************************************

The themes explored in the street art are diverse, ranging from serious and political to fun and satirical *********************************************

Medellín’s walls have become a canvas to tell stories of the city’s past, when gangs and drugs ruled the streets *********************************************

A view over the rooftops of Medellín *********************************************

There are walls where artists are legally permitted to paint *********************************************

Graffiti at the bottom of one of Comuna 13’s orange-roofed escalators, built in 2011 to connect the hilly area to the rest of Medellín *********************************************

A young boy walks past a huge work of art *********************************************

Comuna 13 and the city as a whole still face problems, but residents believe the situation is improving *********************************************

Sources : https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/gallery/2017/nov/21/street-art-in-medellin-colombia-in-pictures

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