“Graffiti is one of the few strengths that remains active against capitalism”
- Self-taught, critical and non-conformist. Despite not having money to buy the material, it has never been a problem. The white walls of grey cities are free and an ideal showcase for spreading messages. The spray in hand becomes aware of the public space and faces established stereotypes, drawing women out of standard and silenced realities. Known as Murales Lian, Lian Montserrat (EE.UU., 1981) has allowed us to know more about it.
How did it start in the street art world? Remember your first job?
My first mural I did in two pieces of plywood removed from a Boston trash can, when I was a teenager. When I was little, the money was scarce and my relationship with my parents was complicated. He painted rebellion as action. I moved to Barcelona shortly. Always with little money. Canvases and fine arts materials were never available to me, but walls were. In the late 1990s, in that Barcelona, where the contempt for private property was growing, I found the infinite supply of white walls in front of me.
All the white walls of the streets at your fingertips, is muralism a claim to reclaim public space?Society tends
to focus on the possible damages that graffiti can cause. My question is: Why don't we talk about the damage caused by repetitive images of seemingly perfect bodies that bombard us through advertisements in public space? For me this is much more important for the debate. Street artists are not the only ones who use public space, but also advertisers, companies, politicians and citizens. So who are the streets of? Are they neutral?
Are there differences between graffiti and muralism?
Painting walls is as old as the Neolithic and as contemporary as a prestigious street artist with its own brand. Today everything is capitalised. But graffiti, unlike muralism, is one of the few strengths it holds active against capitalism. In this sense, society does not accept them in the same way, because one occupies the public space and in the other the public space is capitalised. In my case, I take public space politically, but I also do it commissioned in some works, provided I agree with the idea and values.
Murals can be a message communication tool. What's your goal? As a
street artist and as a woman, I want to imagine unconventional women to find spaces to identify themselves. An example of this is the mural of the Spanish Civil War that I painted in the Plaza de Bilbao, a petition in the neighborhood when the building was reformed, as the previous mural was erased. I took the same picture of the Civil War that was before and modernized it, adding subjects that were not white men. I also want to reflect other realities, such as migrants or dams. I have a close relationship with the social movements, I know that through the murals I will not change the reality, but I do so my bit of sand.
What would you say is the power of muralism?This
artistic expression has become an alternative to recover the gray spaces of the cities and create links between their inhabitants, strengthening their social identity. The walls have a great capacity to communicate with the people.
With this ability to communicate with the people, do the murals invite us to break with the fast pace of our life?The nicest part of street art is that you don't have to pay, and that you can catch
by surprise breaking with your routine. With a little luck, the person who meets her will stop looking at the phone for a moment, breaking her fast pace of life, opening a space for reflection.
It has left its mark on different corners and buildings. What work would you highlight?
I am very proud of the mural I made in the gaztetxe of Leitza, it is certainly the one I love the most. They proposed a few key words to me: auzolan, self-management, solidarity ... The result was an old woman who is braiding her colored hair.
What did you want to reflect in that mural?It can
be understood as a mixture between the old and the new, the traditional and the avant-garde. But it can go further and interpret that the lady is a people, and that there are ideas - together - that come together to make a beautiful and strong thing - the txirikord. The Lady of the Mural bears a ring with the symbol of Alde Ondo as a gesture that before the building was a barracks and that the fight against the occupation of land by the Basques was revealed.
And that mural also has a personal story... The woman in
the picture is very important to me. My biological mother is dead and since I arrived in Catalonia I consider her my mother. He's a fighting person who has taught me a lot about life. The year before, I took him to see the mural. The treatment received was impressive. All the people served to pull out the red carpet. They made him feel at home… It was a very nice time for us.
born in the United States, but I didn’t like culture or binary gender division at all. I gathered a dollar and arrived in Barcelona. I've lived there for almost two decades, so I say I'm Catalan. Painting on the street is a simple adrenaline, a challenge to overcome. It's a great responsibility, but, I don't know why, it's what I love most about the world. I’m a shy person, full of contradictions, but when I find the wall beforehand I become a safe and nicknamed person.”
Zerbitzu sekretuen alorrean erabili ohi diren OSINT teknikak erabiliko dituen enpresa bat kontratatzeko proiektua lizitaziora atera du Gasteizko Udalak, Arabako Alea-k jakitera eman duenez.
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