Street art enlightens you to the politics, struggles, and dreams of their creators. It lets you see a city and country through the eyes of the locals. And in doing so, offers insight into a contemporary culture that few other mediums can provide.
Although the major cities such as New York, Paris, Berlin, and Melbourne have some are notorious for their displays of street art, great street art can be found all over the world. This is especially true in the underrated countries of Central America.
The artists of Central America are keen to express a past plagued by violence and civil war. They are also passionate to show off their artistic style to the world.
So if you’re heading to Central America, below of 3 of the best cities to find enlightening works of street art.
1) San Salvador
San Salvador is the capitol of El Salvador and it is a city of two faces. In Colonia Escalon, the rich surround themselves by high walls and clean city streets. But take a 15 minute bus downtown and you discover where the real people of San Salvador live. Here, the streets are dirty, and the walls become the perfect canvas’s for those who create. The best way to find the street art is to simply meander the city streets. It’s definitely one of the best things to do in San Salvador and it’s free.
2) San Jose
San Jose is one of the most manicured and clean capitols of Central America. Yet despite this, inspiring street art can be found from the slums to the capitol building. The street art here is less an expression of politics but rather simply and expression for expressions sake.
3) Panama
Panama City is the biggest city in Central America. It’s loud, polluted, and very busy. In many ways it feels like a borough of New York City. And like the Bronx or Brooklyn, it has some great street art that’s waiting to be found.
Conclusion
If you’re heading to Central America, be sure to check out the street art. It is stylistically unique, culturally enlightening, and just plain cool to look at. Plus if you take a picture of it and print it out, you can send home some pretty unique post cards.
Granted some of you might never get the chance to get down to Central America. Fortunately you can view some great art and street are online these days. So if you’re a lover of art be sure to check out Saatchi Online to view some cyber street art from collage artists from around the world.
Leave a Reply