A Short Chronicle of Street Art in Buenos Aires, Argentina
Text and Pictures By Dragomira Raeva
I happened to stroll the back streets of Buenos Aires on a grilling summer day in January 2010. The following images peeped at me from walls and facades in two of the harbour nighbourhoods of the mega polis.
The first are in the San Telmo district of Buenos Aires. Until recently this was an unattractive dodgy neighbourhood with unattended houses and rubbish littered streets. However, in the past 3-4 years artists moved in to open ateliers, tango dancers crowded the numerous small plazas, bars and restaurants followed, funky shops popped up.
The hood is now a mixture of its former inhabitants from a poorer social background and the newly-arrived settlers with an arty affiliation. The street art is also a plethora of different cultures that express their different inspirations and ideas on the canvas of the street.
Next pictures from Boca, the poorest neighborhood at the former port of Buenos Aires. The houses you see around are mostly built from wooden pallets and iron sheets, often with windows covered with nylon only.
The houses are colorfully painted, which gives a charming look to the hood.
Lots of the wall art has religious connotations, there is also much of football themes too, since the Boca junior football team trains at a stadium in this district. Surely, the wall art also carries messages for social justice, anticorruption and empowerment of the poor.
Venturing deeper into Boca, we were stopped by a young man and advised not to progress further with a camera since we are risking to e robbed. This warning cooled off the enthusiasm of discovering the hidden treasures behind the Boca corners. So far, so good, the rest of the images are in our heads from when we returned to Boca with no technical gadgets…
Great pics Draga! how are you doing down there??? greets from Brux!