This is really cool! I love seeing murals and graffiti around and wish the tradition was stronger up here. Almost anything is better than a blank wall.
The protest roots and the history/context of the movement are a huge part of what makes these so cool. I’m glad to get some more information. I’m trying steadily to fill in the gaps in my history education but there’s so much history.
I wonder what themes and motifs would be common in murals in a solarpunk society. Environmental topics perhaps, but hopefully that’s somewhat on the mend and the cities would have more natural beauty than in the present day so maybe they’d focus on other things. Memorials to species and people lost in worse days? Protests around modern day arguments? Kind of anticapitalist upkeep? I’m not a big believer in utopia so I don’t doubt there’d be plenty of topics for artists to work with.
Saint-Imier in Switzerland has a Bakuninist watchmaker community, buildings are decorated with labor, time, and chronometry motifs.
The Rojava communes in northern Syria culturally elevate martyrs, and the fighting dead (mural from a Greek refugee camp) are a common theme in their murals.
