ACTIVITY
Walls against oblivion
- REMEMCHILD -
Young people from the Barrutialde Secondary School and the muralist Mikel Aldekogarai “Kezon” created 2 murals with the message “No to war”.
4 December 2023: explanatory workshop on the project and on the graffitis and murals with the young people at the Barrutialde High Scholl in Arratzu with the artist Mikel Aldekogarai “Kezon” and the educator Idoia Orbe from the Gernika Peace Museum.
4-5 December 2023: creation of the murals “Gerrarik ez (No to war) on the façade of a building near the aforementioned school and very visible from the road from Gernika to the beaches of Laida and Laga.
Mikel Aldekogarai, also known as Kezon KZN, is a graffiti writer with a career that dates back to 2005. He lives in Bilbao and has left his mark on the streets through murals and works of urban art. Founder of the company ARTberasturi, he collaborates with both private and public entities, including the City Councils of Gernika, Barakaldo and Bilbao.
In addition to his work as an artist, Mikel shares his knowledge with the community. He teaches classes in various public and private schools on the history of graffiti, muralism and street art. His passion for urban art led him to create the IBILALDI of Styles event in Gautegiz Arteaga, an initiative that has held three editions. This event brings together local graffiti artists and guests from other regions to express their creativity in the streets of this picturesque town.
In addition, Mikel is a content creator on his YouTube channel called “Pintando con…”, where he collaborates with different artists every week.
It is a public, coeducational and Basque-speaking centre (which promotes Basque culture and language) based on different learning itineraries, guaranteeing an education that adapts to the characteristics and needs of the pupils, taking care of the diversity of each case. Compulsory Secondary Education, Baccalaureate, Higher and Intermediate Vocational Training (in the professional families of Wood and Mechanical Manufacture) and the AAT (Task Learning Classroom) are taught.
The #Wallsagainstoblivion workshop promotes the creation of artistic interventions against oblivion in public spaces to convey the memory of victims of all wars and the values of tolerance and peace.
The Gernika Peace Museum, in collaboration with the Street Art artist Mikel Aldekogarai and the young people of the Barrutialde Secondary School, has created 2 murals for peace. These two murals refer to the wars and conflicts that are currently taking place in the world, such as the Ukraine, Israel-Palestine, etc.
The idea for the workshop arose from the situation in Gernika in 1937, the bombing and the current wars and conflicts, bringing together the past and the present. The idea was to create murals in highly visible places by young people to show their disagreement with the wars.
During the preliminary phase, the design of the works and the creation of preparatory sketches took place between the Gernika Peace Museum and the muralist.
The theoretical workshop with the young people, in which the head of education at the Gernika Peace Museum and the artist took part, was held on the morning of 4 December at the school. In the afternoon, a small group of young people (14 people) got down to work to transfer the first sketch to the wall. As soon as they had it ready, they began to paint the mural, starting with the outside, the simplest part, and moving on to the centre. Like any street art artist, they used spray paint. On the afternoon of the following day, 5th December, it was the second group’s turn to paint their mural. The process followed was the same.
The finer details of the murals were completed by the artist in the following days.
People passing by by car and all those connected with the 2 schools located there (pupils, parents, teachers, school staff…) can observe the murals and the message they send out (Guerrarik ez – No to war) every day, thus promoting shared memory and its connection to public space.
Links of interest
