Street Art Of Mexico

So I've been on the road for almost exactly three months now, and at this point have amassed well over a thousand photos. Sounds like a lot, doesn't it? It ought to be noted, however, that that big number is due in large part to a few huge clusters of photos taken at particularly unique areas, or during special events. For example, I took a shit-ton of photos when I climbed Paricutin back in January, and also when I visited the monarchs in early February. There are also far too many pictures of old ornate churches, galleries, and other city-stuff like that.

However, I have recently noticed that apart from these big clusters, and the obligatory touristy shots, there is another species of photo that crops up more or less consistently throughout my travels, namely, shots of street art: graffiti, stencilwork, stickers, paste-ups, and random installation art. Now, there are lots of photos I could post, but for the purposes of this entry, I'll restrict myself to graf and stencils.

Although big centres like Guadalajara and Mexico City obviously had more than their fair share of street art, I've noticed these past few months that there is also no shortage of sweet work to be seen even in smaller cities. The following is a little taste of what I mean, plus some stuff from the big cities too.

(Click on images to see them larger.)


This piece is the first I photographed in Mexico. It was easily over twenty feet long, in full color, and pretty much blew my mind. It must have been quite new, because it was basically flawless. I found it on some dirty back street in Ensenada, a smallish town in Baja California, just a few hours south of the U.S. border. I had snapped a few shots of big pieces in San Francisco and L.A. but this piece is what prompted me to start keeping my eyes open in Mexico.

These next few characters of similar style were all found hiding out in Old Vallarta - I think we eventually discovered that they were tied to a local clothing line, and that if you came at them the right way, they kind of led you to the shop in question.




The following set are all from a little town in Michoacan state called Uruapan. This is where I stayed when I climbed Paricutin. This particular corner wall was covered for about a half-block in each direction.






Now, here are a few stingers from Guadalajara. I was even lucky enough to catch buddy right in the middle of one.





Finally, here are a few artsier pieces from downtown Mexico City.





But to be honest, the real inspiration for my putting this entry together were my experiences in the city of San Cristobal de las Casas, in the southern state of Chiapas. This region of Mexico has a long and painful history of social unrest, and this city in particular was an important site in the uprising of the indigenous peoples under the banner of the Zapatistas back in the 90s. As a result, its sreets are well-marked with revolutionary and resistance-themed stencil-art. All of the following were taken over the course of a few random walks about town the past few days.

While few of them employ multiple colors or layering, many are quite detailed cuts, such as the red face in the piece that reads "SOLIDARIDAD" and the big Frida cut at the end.













That's all for today. Hope all is well.