Friday, January 13, 2023

Mural walks in Valdivia, Chile

I'm on vacation and taking Spanish classes in South America. This week I've been in Valdivia, Chile (for a map click on "Location" at the end of this post). There are beautiful parts…

…lots of murals, as well as lots of buildings covered with graffiti (including homes and businesses!).

Here are the murals I found on two walks from the city center south to the AirBnB where I stayed. A lot of photos show the graffiti that's everywhere… sadly, the taggers often trash the murals. I haven't edited most of the photos; I was too busy sightseeing! They're in four groups. First are murals by two different artists. The third group are outside the Casa de la Memoria; more on that below. The fourth group has assorted murals.

Nature scenes

Leonel Torres (who also signs his murals "Artemisa") usually paints nature scenes on corners of buildings and on utility boxes.

Multicolored faces

I'm guessing these are all by the same artist. They're almost never signed, and I couldn't read the one signature I found.

Casa de la Memoria

Although I didn't find the building open, I'm almost sure this place is to remind Chileans (and everyone) about the human rights abuses during the government of President Augusto Pinochet. He ruled between 1974 and 1990. If you haven't heard of him, this Encyclopedia Britannica biography explains. Pinochet “moved to crush Chile’s liberal opposition; in its first three years the regime arrested approximately 130,000 people, many of whom were tortured.”

Other murals

I've added comments above a few of these.


Click for a larger view of the nature scenes in this long mural:


Next, a mural too wide to squeeze into one photo. The right side (the second photo) shows forests being cut into wood and processed in a machine that, on the left side, spits out money eaten by a big fish that's guarded by a dog:


The left side of the mural says “I love Mom.” The right side (I didn't get it all) says “My mom is the strongest, most gracious, prettiest, most brave…”

Next time...

…murals and street art from one of the best cities in the world, Valparaíso, Chile.