District 13 Medellin Colombia Graffiti Tour

#District13MedellinGraffiti

District 13 was once one of the most dangerous areas of Colombia and now a thriving
tourist destination.
 It costs around $25 for a guided tour, well worth the money to see the art plus hear some of the
stories about the old neighborhood of Medellin

KeyTip
 The Colombian Peso (to other currencies) is devalued so to book tours, hotels, restaurant meals 
 is cheaper, plus there is a vibe the locals call Sabrosura (passion and joy) from the people here so
all tourists are welcome

 

El Patron
I went to Colombia to go on the Pablo Escobar Excursion (which i did and recommend) but it was
 the hotel clerk who mentioned the Graffiti Tour
Glad he did!

Early History
Written graffiti was first discovered in ancient Rome some 2500 years ago
 But certainly back then it was in different forms than what is found today as the Romans would write their names and protest poems on buildings

Amazing Street Art
Being an artist myself i can say what i seen takes a lot of talent 

Street Canvas
As you can see everything is open for paint 😅

Modern Graffiti
In North America it had its first origins in the 1960s /1970s,
mostly in the cities of New York City and Philadelphia
In those early days, the taggers were part of street gangs just marking their territories

 The New York Times
Was a term being used by this newspaper then novelist Norman Mailer in their writings, so finally being accepted as an art form 
Art Galleries then started buying graffiti.

Moving Forward
  Frenchman Blek le Rat and the British artist Banksy
 (Banksy Museum in New York City has just opened museumbanksy.com) have achieved international fame by producing complex work with their stencil graffiti

Rebel Art
Because graffiti was illegal, in most cases (it was underground so to speak) this form of art has always flourished because it took so little money to voice your displeasures on many subjects
 Various topics included a political opinion, heritage or
work and of course your living conditions 

Military & Police
  Here in Colombia tagging any branch of the government power structure is very common,
 as most of the law enforcement in the rural areas is run by the military.

New Movement
Its to have a stronger civilian police force that reports to the Interior Ministry,
 as a report found that 70% of its citizens do not report crimes to the authorities
 because of the lack of trust

Graffiti 101

A) You generally do not tag over another artists work

B) Letters can be of different styles with the oldest called the Wild Style,
which consists of arrows, curves and spikes

C) Blockbuster is a term for blocky letters to cover a large area plus usually painted with
 rollers to save time

D) Bubbles are letters that are round, circular and overlapping to create an image that seems
 to expand / bubble up

E) Sharp style are either letters or abstract elements sprayed in an angular
 sharp forms

 F) Piece or Character, is short for Masterpiece as its painted free hand and is on a large part of wall plus a complex painting that is time consuming

G) Calligraffiti is an art form that combines calligraphy, typography plus graffiti which can be classified as abstract expressionism or as visual art

 H) Stencil graffiti is when the artist makes out of paper or cardboard their image then it is easily transferred onto a surface with the use of spray paint or a roller

 I) Sticker art is when the the person takes cheap or free stickers and forms them into a 3D image or into a collage to form what the subject of protest is about

Area in Transition
After the armed conflict to control District 13 was done, this area of Medellin lives
in a time of change
Through many organizations and with the leadership of local artists plus musicians,
 the revitalization of the community by means of artistic expression has started the healing process