Graffiti, Graffiti Everywhere

Introduction:

One big difference between the United States and Colombia is that there is a huge amount of street art and graffiti in Colombia. There is more graffiti in Barranquilla than I have seen in any part of the U.S.! 

What tradition did I learn about?:

Lately, I have been learning about graffiti. Since I moved to Barranquilla three months ago, I´ve been seeing it everywhere! On almost every street corner, you can see some piece of graffiti or street art. I´ve seen many different things painted, like animals, people, maps, politicians and political events, cartoons, decorations, designs and almost everything else you can imagine! People paint graffiti on the sides of buildings, on fences, under bridges and overpasses, and anywhere else they can find space! I´ve seen so much beautiful graffiti while living here and I see even more in every new city and town I visit.

Why does the community have this tradition?:

I learned that graffiti has always been a prominent part of the culture here in Colombia. The indigenous Chibcha people drew petroglyphs on the walls of caves in Colombia long ago and this was the country´s first graffiti! Since then, people have been painting graffiti in public places in many cities all over the country.

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