Street art competition City opens wall to graffiti artists
Bonn · The city council has opened up a wall on the Brassertufer to graffiti artists. There is only one condition: the pictures have to fit the topic "strong women". We took a look at the works that were created.
On Saturday, there were plenty of onlookers and photographers at the wall on the Brasserufer below the Hotel Königshof. Artists were working on a scaffold with spray cans. Instead of dull grey, there was colourful female power, as the theme of the street art competition organised by the city's Department of Culture was "Strong women - tradition, diversity and equality in Bonn".
A total of 20 motifs were approved for the large-scale mural to be created there. The participating artists were legally allowed to spray their pictures on the large wall. Painting will continue until 31 March. The mural already features a portrait of Mexican painter Frida Kahlo amidst colourful lettering.
Eugen Schramm, co-organiser of the Bonn-based association Arts Four Love, is particularly pleased that ten women artists are taking part. The association offers free graffiti art workshops and campaigns for legal graffiti walls. "We think the theme of strong women is a good one," says Schramm. "It's our job to encourage young girls and adult female artists to pick up a spray can and design the walls." Public and legal walls are important so that women's artworks can be seen more often. As he spoke, artists Eva Appelius and Lala, who go by the name "Lakoona", got to work.
Combining fantasy and reality
Lala's works are mostly colourful and bright images of animals and plants. "I try to combine fantasy and realism," she says. "I have always painted and I discovered spray painting about six years ago. It was love at first spray, I'd say". After that, she couldn't stop and has been a regular at art events all over Germany ever since.
For the Bonn wall, she and the artist Mo, "Radik42", chose a motif of a woman with a child in her arms riding a turtle across the sea, leaving burning houses behind. The motif refers to sea rescues in the Mediterranean, as the two are entering the competition through the Bonn branch of the Sea-Eye charity.
Creating space for interpretation
Eva Appelius has art in her blood: "My mother is a trained graphic designer, my grandmother is an art teacher, so art has always been around and I touched my first tin when I was 17," says the 20-year-old. Her motif: a perfume bottle, a pepper spray and a spray can. "I wanted to combine things that spray. And I wanted to do something that could be interpreted in many different ways," she says. At the same time, she wants to address women with her motifs. This is important to her not only in this project, but also when she sprays on the other legal walls in the city.
(Original text: By Jan-Oliver Nickel / Translation: Jean Lennox)
