BULGARIA Identity
Bulgaria’s architecture and urban art and monuments are a mixture of bold communism, shabby decommissioned Bourgeoisie, marked influences of Roman, Persian, Ottoman influences. And the emotive graffiti vibrant and established. Here are a selection from Sofia; and Plovdiv – which is known as the city of artists and the oldest city in Europe (8000 BCE).
Plovdiv library has a great example of Socilist art (Sots) with cladding made of Vratza stone, marble and granite prominent Bulgarian sculptor Stoyo Todorov (1919–1997).
EL SALVADOR Identity
Flying into San Salvador from London was arduous – 9 hours to my beloved Miami 6 hour stop over and then another 3 hours. We felt quite fragile getting off the plane and were conscious to have our wits about us in case of loss or theft. The airport was small with a little park straight outside flanked by a huge tree. We had to walk past cultural shows with young ladies in bright big hooped flouncy traditional dresses promoting mobile phone companies.
Picking up the rental car was as easy as anywhere else in the world – took ages. Not one car company in the world we have rented from in over 20yrs of travel, has it not taken forever. You can usually tell the state of country by the rental car they provide. Ours was a sparkling white Toyota, no scratches and pristine inside. Air con working. Radio working. We switched onto a random radio station, also a nice way to get the local vibe … ‘Take me down to paradise city…’ in folk style. Saccharine covers of classic hard rock. Sentimental coffee shop music. It was everywhere throughout our trip.
And may be that is a good metaphor for the place. It was very relaxed. Local people we met and interacted with were so gentle and quiet. A sort of flower petal softness despite a difficult history. Apologies if that sounds a bit colonial.
As soon as we drove out of the airport (on good roads), there was a wild exoticness, luscious palms and bright bougainvillea, and clear blue skies not yet lost to pollution from over development. We stayed a few days in San Salvador and checked out both the military museum and also the Museum of Contemporary Art. The military museum was full of random assorted tanks and planes from different eras in huge colonial buildings.
And the Art museum was small but had a lot of interesting work from traditional paintings to interesting sculptures and an exhibition of local young artists. There was some VR actually !
Not the same level of graffiti art as in Mexico or Colombia. But there were lots of commissioned street art particularly along the famous Ruta de Flores. Stunning brightly coloured adobe houses with murals of volcanoes and birds. We stayed in the colonial town with cobbled streets and a big market, called Apaneca which means ‘river of the wind’ in Nahuatl in the coffee growing regions. The obligatory grand colonial cathedral with fluttery bunting, towered above the main square. There was a long queue outside in the main front courtyard and I believe it may have been a confessional queue in the open because of COVID restrictions. There were a lot of sheepish looks. Confessing with the fear of being heard by the community surely creates the biggest shame and deterrent.
And, of course everyone thought I was a local. Persia my daughter looked particularly Salvadoran. So even when I said no I was born in Bangladesh, locals would resume talking to me in Spanish anyway, in a kind of not to worry it’s fine you are one of us. I feel Iike I have already written this before when we were in Mexico. I'm very ashamed to say sometimes when you travel a lot experiences blur.
As we were there during Easter holidays, a lot of the tourist sites were full with locals. There was this one sort of themed eco park with a very high hedged maze. I felt horribly claustrophobic in the maze, which my husband and daughter persevered with for a full hour.
There were also a set of zipline related high octane activities, which personally I think should be treated with respect. Respect the ziplines. But get this ….you could ride a bicycle on the zipline, one which you could surf on and one which was more like a bungee jump. There was also very very disorientating loud dance music with scratchy base. It wasn’t right. I watched gasping with fear and awe at those who dared participate. These were one entertainment derivation too far.
The one I did do, was high swing with my daughter- NO harnesses which I guess if you decided to let go or jump off would die. But why would you ?
Once the swing started, after the initial scream, I just couldn’t stop laughing. My daughter side eyed me with slight incredulous embarrassment and then also started laughing. I love being the most embarrassing mum ever.
International tourism has been steadily increasing in El Salvador. In fact in 2019 there was a 21.46% increase from 2018.
From our observations there seemed to be 4 types :
1) The time poor luxury tourists who had their own guide taking them around the highlights of Central America. We met an Indian family from San Francisco on our proper Ziplining experience which included being squished up with them on an open top jeep up the mountainous forest.
2) The backpackers and spring breakers…backpacking throughout Central America with no planned itineraries. The consensus was everything was booked out in Costa Rica and Mexico so they had come to El Salvador, as an overspill, with plans to stay longer than expected because it was more beautiful and easier than expected. We met some on our way up the famous Santa Ana Volcano in the west of the country, in the Cerro Verde National Park. We also met other tourists whose parents had emigrated to Australia in the 1980s, but now had themselves become adults, living in the US with 4 children (homeschooling!) working in Texas in engineering visiting El Salvador for the first time.
On a side note, Santa Ana Volcano hike didn’t start 10.30am (we got there at 8.30am), we had to wait for the guide to confirm if the government to safety sign it off due to weather conditions. And you have to have a guide (there were 3 guides for about 30 people). There were also 2 armed policemen and some stray mountain dogs cheerfully accompanying us to the top.
The walk itself was not difficult but I think after our long journey to the Americas I was a bit jet lagged and struggled up the mountain though back down was fine. I felt so lame. But it was worth it, the mist totally cleared up and oh my god the views.
There were lots of squealing college age selfie-takers. There was one girl holding a Canadian flag backing closer and closer to a sheer drop off the ridge of the crater for the perfect selfie, and my mum instincts in overdrive had to tell her off .. .I shouted to her that she was about to fall and die. She did move forward closer onto the main gravel but cheekily responded ‘I love living life on the edge’. I put my hands over my daughters ears.
A lot of these backpacker types, seemed to have visited El Salvador before through American Bible groups.
3a) Which leads me to the 3rd type - old school missionaries in white vans and guitars (groups of whole families) on Christian missions. Perfectly nice people but well … charity work ok but missions ?
And finally the 4th type or may be 3b) the other soul saving evangelists - Californian crypto surfers.
NORWAY Identity
NORWAY Samisk Folkedag Identity
The Scream by Munch, 1893, Sold for $119.9 million in 2012. The idea for the Scream, came to Munch when he 'heard the enormous, infinite scream of nature' inspired by a sunset …. but we all know it was about the anxiety of the modern man. We feel the utter despair - used as a pop culture reference for so much including the movie and the masks .. what was it called again ?
I had read that the seasons of long nights and no sunlight are associated with depression. There is a whole industry based on it.
But on the the contrary, Norway frequently featured in the top 10 best places to live in the world. So what was up with Munch ?
There are many many reasons to be happy in Norway compared to other countries, but every day people are still exposed to everyday awful experiences. Around half of people in Norway experience mental health problems or disorders at some time during their life. And Munch was one them and his work revolved around this. Also heavily influenced by his visits to Paris, categorised under Symbolism – focusing on the mind rather than reality.
"In my art I attempt to explain life and its meaning to myself."
He had grown up with death and sadness, he had watched his mother die at the age of 5 and then his favourite sister at (both of tuberculosis) and was brought up with his siblings by his religiously zealous father and aunt. He also suffered from physical illness during the long winter months and was kept out of school. He drew to keep himself occupied.
"My father was temperamentally nervous and obsessively religious—to the point of psychoneurosis. From him I inherited the seeds of madness. The angels of fear, sorrow, and death stood by my side since the day I was born."
His mark making and form all a reflection of his inner perspective. “Even Nature is not only all that is visible to the eye... it also includes the inner pictures of the soul.”- Edvard Munch.
So yes, one of the happiest places to live …. that’s now right ? And a lot of the greatest works art have come of from emotinal depths of pain (or religion) ….particularly street art, usually in part protest or break for freedom and traditionally from the ghetto … I was curious to know if Norway, had any of that stuff. Its heritage of Viking warriors, ancient Sami culture and survivalist explorers, gender equality and clean and green (except for the huge oil reserves). Norway is measured and rich. And officially pretty happy.
I turned up very late to a street art tour run by Hanna and James. It started in Rosenhoffgata, the grittier area (if Norway could have any gritty parts) which had become trendy with fun bars and cafes. Their company Oslo Street Art Tour, were producers of streetart, finding walls, connecting with commercial or city organisations and commissioning artists to create murals and graffiti. They also run a yearly Street Art festival in Oslo called Løkka-lykke Gatekunstfest, a zine, support the local community and follow sustainable practices.
Interview
And up North into the Arctic, yes captured a few pieces. There is a certain satisfaction factor climbing a snow mound (each step causing half a leg to be swallowed - snow falling into your waterproof boots from the top) in a carpark to scan a graffiti piece.
https://streetartnews.net/2013/09/street-art-by-phlegm-in-bodo-norway.html
MEXICO Identity
Noche de Rábanos identity
Interview
Interview with Remix (insta : @RemixUno).
Remix, born and brought up in Mexico City, is a world renowned graffiti artist. He works with brands such as Nike, commissions and even during this lockdown for Mexico City. In fact we recognised his collages of realism mixed with abstract colourful works all over the city throughout our time in Mexico City. During our street art tour with Remix (airbnb experiences) he explained the history of graffiti and the different styles; the inspirations.
We finished off the tour by having a go at being graffiti artists ourselves. I have to say he was so helpful and kind. After my daughter finished her piece, she started crying because she felt her attempts were so bad (it is not easy as it looks).
Remix recounted to her that as an artist it is normal to have self doubt and that he himself cried for 2 days because of self disappointment …. and then helped her produce a new piece of work which she felt proud of.
Street art, graffiti and muralism is very important to Mexican culture and heritage. With examples of Mayan murals dating back to 8th century, Mesoamerican civilisations would ‘adorn their temples and palaces with images of religious ceremonies and historical events’. We saw many at the astonishing Anthropological Museum in Mexico City (now I know why the British Museum has so little Mexican work to display – and a good thing too!).
I scanned all these while I was abroad !
Mural artists, Diego Rivera, José Clemente Orozco, and David Alfaro Siqueiros known as the big 3 have painted Mexico’s turbulent history from the Spanish Conquest (1519), the Independence from Spain (1821) and the Mexican Revolution (1910) …. large scale.
Rivera’s - "Man at the Crossroads: Mural at Rockefeller Center" commissioned by Rockefeller was particularly controversial. Destroyed on completion because of its leftist leanings. According to David Rockefeller Sr., Rivera added a panel that the family felt was an unflattering portrait of his father. "The picture of Lenin was on the right-hand side, and on the left, a picture of [my] father drinking martinis with a harlot and various other things that were unflattering to the family and clearly inappropriate to have as the center of Rockefeller Center," he said'. Rivera later repainted it in Mexico City.
Graffiti, the edgy punk hotter sister of Murals, is flourishing in the streets of Mexica City, though it wasn’t always the case. There was a time when artists would look out for police and as the coast became clear would create a flash mob to furiously fill whole walls in minutes. Every little bit of wall would be covered across the city but considered vandalism. Nowadays, graffiti and murals are ‘in’ - a way to brighten up the urban jungle with visual narratives while connecting with youth and local talented artists. And as with other forms of Mexican art, graffiti is not afraid to tackle difficult subjects.
This protest piece relates to a national scandal - the mass kidnapping, in 2014, and subsequent murders of 43 students from Iguala by drug cartels, colluding corrupt police and government officials. At first it might seem that the ferocious tiger is large and about to pounce on the rabbits, but if you look again actually the tiger is the one cowering with fear. It depicts the anti-corruption agencies which are now keeping an eye on the police and government.
México: Cultura y Sociedad que renace by Seher One at the general comptroller’s office in Mexico City
This recent mural by artist Seher One tells the story of rebirth of Mexico, - united to helped each other and rise with strength from the rubble after the September 19 2017 earthquake which injured 30000 and killed 10000 people.
MOROCCO Identity
Fantasia Identity
LiDar scans taken of shops in the La Goutte d'Or area of Paris also known as Little Africa mixed in with street art from the Belleville area. Use keys WASD or mouse to explore.
