This past Saturday, I did a Street Art Walk in Graça neighborhood with guide Igor Vitorino of The Street Buddha with some friends.
Apparently this mural was done during the height of the pandemic so it was painted without people.
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Since moving to Lisbon last May, I've come to really appreciate street art. Which is good because Lisbon is an open-air gallery. Not only does it have beautiful tiles on facades of churches and building (which we learned from Igor that people use the tiles to protect the building structures but to also show off) and the traditional cobblestone sidewalks, but also for its street art. Following the April 25, 1974 Revolution, there was an explosion of political murals, and today artistic graffiti is even sponsored by the City Council.
The Portuguese capital is now known as one of the cities with the best street art, and some local artists like Vhils and Bordalo II have works all over the world. Vhils is known for carving faces, while Bordalo II creates art from trash to help bring awareness to endangered species and the harm that pollution is having on them.
This is a Bordalo II (check out more art from Bordalo II) from before is got into trash art. I believe Igor said it was from 2011. You'll notice that the art also has graffiti. Igor explained that others will mark it with graffiti as a means of claiming the territory or to show disrespect for artist (such a tragedy defacing such beautiful art).
Shepard Fairey and Portuguese artist Vhils created piece on Rua Senhora da Glória. Fairey painted half of a female face, while Vhils carved the other.
This slideshow below shows street art exclusively from female artists which was commissioned by the City Council.
This piece was hard to discern with the naked eye but could clearly see the design through the camera lens (in this case cell phone).
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Take a closer look at the the rabbit and bird and you'll see that the Lisbon skyline is painted in their eyes.
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In my attempt to learn more Portuguese vocabulary, I looked up the word "saudade". It means "an emotional state of melancholic or profoundly nostalgic longing for something or someone that one loves despite it not necessarily being real or they reciprocate it back that is supposedly characteristic of the Portuguese."
Our 90-minute tour ended with this gorgeous view!
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