When Justin Bieber met Broken Windows

I have moved on now from Bogota, but I can’t resist the temptation to get back to its wonderful graffiti one final time. Since I last touched on the subject, I have gained inside information that I now wish to share with you. And hey, Justin Bieber is involved!

The broken window theory states that once a districts starts to have broken windows and graffiti, the downward spiral is bound to start: Drugs, crime and hellfire are sure to ensue.

Unfortunately the current mayor of Bogota is a firm believer in the broken window theory and is currently having the town paint over street art especially in the old colonial part of town in La Candelaria. The house owners - many of whome have commissioned the street art in the first place - are powerless to protest, since the old buildings are considered national heritage. Therefore the house owners only own the buildings from the front door inwards. The exterior is national property and the municipal powers that be can do what they like to them. This includes painting over many wonderful works - and the process is ongoing.

I was so enchanted by the amazing street art here, that I took the Bogotta graffiti tour led by Ana, who is a graffiti artist herself, though officially a political science teacher and key member of the graffiti board - an instance trying to increase communication between graffiti artists, the police and town officials.

Ana showed us examples of graffiti writing

Mural style

Street art painted free hand

Or stencilled

(The man with the horns and the top hat is Ronald Reagan, who began the ”war on drugs” campaign that led to innumereable deaths in Colombia - also of innocent bystanders).

And many more graffiti styles visible on the streets of Bogota.

Though the scene is obviously thriving, there are an estimated 6000 graffiti artists in Bogota(!), there is a distinct tension between law enforcement and the graffiti scene - and a sad history and Justin Bieber behind the current situation. 

In 2011 the police caught a 16-year old graffiti artist in the act of graffiting an underpass. He unwisely legged it, at which point one of the policemen thought it would be a good idea to shoot him in the back. The death of this boy, Diego Becerra, left the graffiti scene reeling and tension between graffiti artists and law enforcement was palpable.

Things came to a head when, shortly after this, a certan Justin Bieber came to give a concert in Bogota. During his stay he had the inspiration to go and graffiti an underpass - which he did under the protection of the police. (His masterpiece, should you wonder, was a spray painted Canadian flag, with a cannabis leaf replacing the maple leaf). The injustice of the fact that Justin could spray under police escort, whereas a 16-year old boy was shot to death by the police for the same act did not go unnoticed. The following week, in an act of unity for their fallen brother, some 300 graffiti artists painted over every inch of Justin’s underpass - including his original artwork. Also, in a beautiful act of homage and defiance, graffiti artists gather every year on the anniversary of Diego Becerra’s death to repaint the underpass he was painting when he was killed. 

The graffiti board is an attempt to find balance in this fragile situation. The community does now sanction some street art - this sports field and children’s play park being the most recent project.

Here I am hob-nobbing with one of Bogota’s greatest: Ernesto Rodez, a visual and contemporary artist who has created and exhibited his street art around the world. We are casually lounging on the stairs he was just painting for the sports park.  

He is best known for his figures with multiple eyes. One of his works on a house wall in la Candelaria was painted over by the municipality just a month ago. 

Despite feeble attempts at reconciliation, the olive branch is too thin and sickly to mend the hurt - especially as the mayor is simultaneously painting over wonderful artwork in the old town. One of the works, which will probably be painted over in the next few months is the one at the beginning of this posting. The eyes of the old indio woman seem to be saying: ”Why?”. That’s my question too.

And at least part of the street art is still political here. Another of Bogota’s best known artists is DJLU, a trained architecht and artist. He incorporates socio-political issues into his stencilled works. The theme of the image below is the situation of many old people, who have no pensions or income and end up having to work until they drop. The jester is not a real jester, but an old man having to play a fool to make ends meet.

This one of DJLU speaks of child labour - especially prevalent in the countryside, where poverty forces children to work instead of study or play. The pineapple granades are part of his ”warfruit” theme. They are a reminder that Colombia is still in the top four countries globally for accidental deaths due to land mines. The clearing of the land mines hasn’t even begun yet. 

This final piece of DJLU’s depicts homeless people he met on the streets of Bogota. The young rastafari man on the right in this image was burned alive as he slept in the street. 

And graffiti in Bogota truly is a gift that keeps on giving! I shall, sadly, have to get it out of my system now, as I can’t spend the next two months posting about street art - much though I might like to.

The APC (Animal Power Group) is Bogota’s biggest and most respected artists’ collective. APC  is formed of some 60 graffiti artists and does communal painting projects such as this cat wall (note the clever way the cat in the corner has his face painted also onto the concrete lamp post and one of the traffic signs in front of the graffiti, so that they don’t block the view of the cat).

Or this project between Colombian and Hondurian street artists, in which each artist is responsible for one of these figures, inspired by the relationship of nature and technology.

Or this APC wall, just because I can

 

So, regretfully, I tear myself away from the topic of street art now and gradually head on out of Bogota also in this blog, as in real life. Greetings from Villa de Leyva. More on that in the next posting.