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One mural, “No Poverty,” depicts a black woman gently braiding a white woman’s hair – a snapshot of family bonds that have grown through hard times. Another, called “No Hunger”, shows a local woman showing her vegetable garden to children so they can learn where their food comes from.
They are among a collection of huge murals in a housing project on the outskirts Portuguese capital lisbon Which tells stories of intimacy, resilience and sustainable living.
The colorful art decorating the sides of nearly identical five-storey apartment blocks in the Zambujal area of Amadora, amid rows of laundry hung out to dry and parked cars, displays of the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals strike a chord in the neighbourhood. The goals include reducing inequality and creating good jobs.
The project has attracted national and international attention. It has also inspired a degree of local pride which was in short supply among the ethnically diverse community in this deprived neighbourhood.
Local resident Ana Gomes welcomed the new vitality brought by the graffiti.
“I think it’s a good thing. Our neighborhood attracts people’s attention now, we get a lot of tourists coming to see it,” she said. “It’s a shame that some things (in the neighborhood) are not OK, but they do what they can.”
The distinctive murals aim to create a connection between the lives of local people and the 17 goals at the heart of the UN 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. The goals also include quality education, good health and well-being, and fighting poverty – goals the UN says are in crisis.
The project was the brainchild of the CAZAmbujal Association, a group of local people whose slogan is “changing the world together”, and the Ad Gents Association, who run it together.
Vitor Monteiro, the 51-year-old head of CAZAmbujal, says for the mural project it invited people, some of whom had never painted on a wall, to try their hand at outsider art.
He says the main challenge for the artists was to portray the experiences and stories of the local people.
The task was to “get to know the stories of the neighborhoods, get to know the people, get a feel for the essence of the neighborhood and from there connect (the sustainable development goals) to the stories of the people in the neighborhood,” Monteiro told The Associated Press.
Local guides are providing interpretations of the characters depicted in the frescoes to Portugal, school groups and groups visiting from abroad.
Monteiro says some of the guides are young local residents who also tell their stories to visitors, making the tour more rich and unique.
“People in the neighborhood are proud to be associated here,” Monteiro said. “‘I’m from Zambujal’ people say proudly, and we are building a sense of belonging here.”
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Barry Hatton in Lisbon, Portugal contributed to this report.