#GRAFFITI OF MY CITY №10 / The miracle of Fanzara.

Hello to all friends of the @slon21veka community!

We continue with the amazing world of graffiti.

Today I'm going to tell you about a miracle...

Located in the province of Castellón, is Fanzara, a small village with less than 300 inhabitants, which became the "graffiti village" thanks to the union and initiative of the neighbours.

The artistic movement that filled the village with graffiti emerged more than a decade ago during neighbourhood protests against the installation of a Toxic Waste Treatment Plant. It should be remembered that the village is located in a protected natural environment.

Many of the villagers opposed the installation of the landfill, others did not; thus the village was divided between supporters and opponents.

Finally, with the change of government, the construction of the landfill was stopped.

In order to improve the precarious economic situation of the village, the supporters of the NO to the landfill proposed that the village should become a museum of urban art.

Renowned graffiti artists should come to the village free of charge. In addition, the villagers should give up their walls without knowing what would be painted on them and host the artists in their homes.

Convincing the population, mostly in their 70s and 80s, to let a stranger graffiti their walls would not be easy. Nor would it be easy to convince the graffiti artists. Let's remember that they had to do it for free.

Yes, an agreement has been reached!

In the summer of 2014, no less than 23 artists came to the village, willing to paint the village for free.

Thus was born the M.I.A.U., Fanzara's unfinished museum of urban art, and since then the graffiti festival has been held every summer in the village where artists of national and international fame come to paint the village.

The story of Fanzara was summarised as "the miracle of the village"; media such as The Guardian or The New York Times, took notice of this incredible story.

This is how the art and the union of the neighbours won over the rubbish.

This summer we visited the village and I leave you a sample of the photos I took.

. The humanised robots of Xelon. In the second picture with Animalito land.

. Monkey Bird Crew, with a magnificent black and white mural.

. A work by Rosh

. The rock cat, by Thiago Goms.

.View of a street in the village... I also caught an elephant :)

. And some other graffiti of which I don't know the author.

. Photo of Manuel Cuellar

All the images were taken by myself with a FUJI X-T2 camera, except the picture of Manuel Cuellar, taken from the internet.

I invite @xaviduran, @sacra97 and @austriadventure to the contest.

Regards,

Silvia.