Festiwall Street Art Festival, Ragusa, Sicily 2017

FestiWall has wrapped up their third street art festival in Ragusa, Sicily. Five large murals were painted by five international street artists including GUE (IT), Marat Morik (RU), Guido Van Helten (AU), Sebas Velasco (SPA), Zoerism (FRA), adding to the ten murals painted in previous years. FestiWall aims to activate urban regeneration with positive awareness.

For the 2017 Edition FestiWall focused on the depopulation of the historic centre of the city of Ragusa and its repercussions on the urban area. The permanent murals will trigger a process of urban regeneration, giving to the citizens the opportunity to create a bond with the place where they live in.

Australian artist Guido Van Helten mural is titled L’attesa’ (The wait). This painting is at the place known as the ‘Marsala’ in Ragusa Sicily… the stairs at the back of the school Liceo Classico Umberto Primo. The energy of this place is generational and ingrained, a location where teenagers and young people have met daily to play music, talk and hang out.

“Growing up in one of the coldest regions in Russia we have been exposed to an Italian culture through books and old films. It was very important for me to step further than the stereotypical image they have created. That is how I came up with this almost collage-like mural that showcases that juxtaposition of those and my own up to date observations I took when I travelled to Italy in the recent years. The subject of the mural is a man going to a fish market. I was drawn by the brutality and violence of the pescheria. I have paired it with the picture of the asphalt I took at the airport on my way to the festival. This mix of retro and new, the cliché and perceptive is what make Italy a very special place and what I wanted to show in my mural.” Marat Morik

Gué paints roads that cross the landscape designed by the boundaries of the walls, cultivated fields, the margins of the encounter between the city and the striking scenery of aspen and rocky of the Iblean countryside. His mural is titled Border.

French artist Zoerism painted a toy car on a former gas station. Zoerism draws his art from his early days. As child, he spent time watching scrap yards, drew traffic-jam scenes and took passion for destroyed items, changing objects.

Spanish artist Sebas Velasco’s mural is called “Il suonatore Gino /The Gino player” and his inspiration was from local vinyl shop owner  Giorgio “Gino” Nobile. His shop Magic Music, is the only vinyl record store in the Italian city.

This third edition was anticipated by a preview wall, painted by Spanish visionary artist Dulk on August 5th in Marina di Ragusa, in the center of summer nightlife. His artwork called “Lost & Found” which raises the alarm on the tragic effects of environmental corruption and its inevitable consequences.

Photo Credit Festiwall

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