Art Social Issues
#Blu #murals #protest #public art #Valencia
Street Artist Blu Protests the Valencia Port Expansion with a Tumultuous Battle Between Nature and Guards
All images © Blu, shared with permission
The legendary anonymous street artist known as Blu has spent his career critiquing the ills of capitalism, the carceral system, and the destruction of the environment, among myriad other problems afflicting the world today. One of his most recent projects brought him back to Sensemurs Valencia to paint a charged mural protesting the expansion of the port in the Spanish city.
The 2022 festival centered around the government’s extension of the industrial area to the north, which would “mean, among many other things, the final lunging to the beaches of l’Albufera (and) the multiplication of air pollution of ships and truck traffic.” Part of a movement to halt the proposal, the public art event brought several muralists to the city, including Blu, whose multi-part work features a battle between fist-shaped trees and port defenders. Similar to some of his earlier projects, this piece is designed as a sequence that when photographed and stitched together, creates an animation. Yellow shipping containers morph into armored guards, who are swiftly pummeled and destroyed as nature resurges from the ground.
To see more of Blu’s recent works, including a piece speaking to the current fossil fuel crisis, visit his site and Instagram.
#Blu #murals #protest #public art #Valencia
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