Escif

For the fourth consecutive year, The Crystal Ship Arts Festival invited over a dozen renowned artists from across the globe to Ostend, Belgium’s largest coastal city. This year’s theme, The Dictatorship of Art, featured a range of tantalizing murals — from the subtly toned to the richly colorful — several overtly political. In the remarkable anamorphic mural featured above, Dutch artist Leon Keer visualizes the impact of climate change.  Several more images — all captured by travel and street photographer Karin du Maire aka Street Art Nomad — follow:

Mexican artist Paola Delfin,”Èèn”

Croatian artist Lonac, “Lost Ticket”

Valencia, Spain-based artist Escif imagines “No Borders”

 Barcelona-based Moroccan native Mohamed L’Ghacham, “Separación De Poderes II”

Frankfurt, Germany-based Case Maclaim

UK native David Walker

Curated by Bjørn Van Poucke, the The Crystal Ship 2019 actively engaged the local community — including students from the local school Ensorinstituut — throughout the festival.

Images 1-7 photographed by Karin du Maire aka Street Art Nomad  

Note: Hailed in a range of media from WideWalls to the Huffington Post to the New York Times, our Street Art NYC App is now available for Android devices here.

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The following guest post is by Houda Lazrak

While in Mexico City shortly before the devastating earthquake, Roberto ShimizuCreative Director of The Antique Toy Museum of Mexico (MUJAM) and co-organizer of Mexico City’s street art festival All City Canvas, introduced me to over a dozen murals — mainly in the neighborhoods of Roma Norte, Doctores and downtown. Featured above is by Mexico City – based Curiot who — upon returning to Mexico City after living in the US —  painted a center for youth who struggle with difficulties within the traditional school system. What follows is a sampling of several more murals, organized by Roberto Shimizu, that I saw:

Arty & Chikle, the first gay street art couple to come out in Mexico City

Valencia-based Escif — at the Plaza de las Tres Culturas, where the Tlatelolco massacre occurred on October 2, 1968. Students met in this plaza for a peaceful demonstration and reportedly hundreds of them were shot and killed when the military opened fired on them. The image depicts former Interior Secretary Luis Echeverría requesting President Gustavo Díaz Ordaz to order the shooting. Decades later, Echeverría was put on trial for the massacre.

UK-based D*Face

Mexico City-based Edgar Flores aka Saner

Mexico City-based Hilda Palafox aka Poni

LA-based El Mac on his mural: The image I painted is based on photos I took of a social activist and poet named María Guardado, who was tortured and left for dead in 1980 by government forces during the civil war in El Salvador. She was one of thousands of civilian victims of that war, during which the US-backed Salvadoran government employed death squads to kill and terrorize everyone from poor farmers to nuns to students. Maria survived and fled the country for Los Angeles, where today she is still a passionate fighter for social justice.

All photos by Houda Lazrak

Note: Hailed in a range of media from WideWalls to the Huffington Post to the New York Times, our Street Art NYC App is now available for Android devices here.

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