FROM GANGSTERS TO MEXICO MURAL ARTISTS

Former drug gang members turn district into giant mural in government rehabilitation initiative in Pachuca.

As part of a government-sponsored project that rehabilitates ex-convicts, former drug gang members, armed with paintbrushes, have turned an entire district in the city of Pachuca into the country's largest mural.

The creative initiative, called Pachuca Paints, has used 20,000 litres of paint on 209 houses, creating a vibrant, colourful image that stands out from afar.

The project also aims to promote communal unity and build a sense of trust between the former criminals and the local residents. 
On the hillside of a downtrodden neighborhood in the Mexican city of Pachuca, there’s been some unusual activity in the last seven months or so. 
Graffiti artists from a collective called Germen Nuevo Muralismo Mexicano have been at work on what they’re calling a macro mural. 

• The mural using 209 homes as their canvas and covers 20,000 meters–or more than 65,000 feet.

This portable mural introduces the tensions over labor, race, and economic inequity that simmered in Mexico after the Revolution. In the foreground, an Indian woman, with the traditional braids and white clothes of a peasant, cuts papayas from a tree while her children collect the fruit in reed baskets.Behind  them, dark-skinned men with bowed heads 

gather bunches of sugar cane.

 

The graffiti artists were contacted by the local government, according to Diario de San Luis, and asked to help rehabilitate the mostly concrete grey buildings in the area. 

Street Art News reports that the 452 families who live in the neighborhood of Palmitas have seen  a reduction  in  crime since 

the mural began.

Source: Agencies