Taquen | One-Way Journeys

A mural by Taquen that tells the story of Nou Barris through migration, highlighting the working-class families who built the district.

The artist: Taquen

Taquen is an urban artist with a well-established career in the contemporary mural scene, recognised for his figurative and symbolic language. His work is characterised by the use of clear images and visual metaphors that allow complex stories to be told in a direct and accessible way.

In his murals, Taquen addresses themes such as memory, identity, journey and rootedness, using public space as a canvas to connect personal stories with collective narratives. His work often begins with research into the context where he intervenes, integrating the social and historical content of the place into the visual composition.

The artwork: “One-Way Journeys”

Location: Via Favència, 271, Nou Barris, Barcelona.

The mural One-Way Journeys tells the story of Nou Barris through the migratory processes that shaped the creation of the district from the 1950s onwards. Nou Barris grew with the arrival of people from different regions of southern Spain: working-class, politically active families who organised into neighbourhood associations to defend their rights and secure full participation in the city of Barcelona.

In the artwork, each bird represents one of these families, with its own story and life path, who arrived in Nou Barris to start a new life. The flight becomes a metaphor for displacement, hope and rootedness, transforming the migratory experience into a shared visual narrative.

The mural connects this past with the present of the district, presenting Nou Barris as a multiracial and multicultural territory, built through successive waves of migration. The intervention uses a symbolic and poetic language to honour the memory of the families who made the neighbourhood possible and to reinforce the idea of Nou Barris as a space of welcome, diversity and coexistence.

NOU Sentit Urbà: urban art in the Nou Barris distric

This intervention is part of the 18 artistic actions of the NOU Sentit Urbà project, promoted by Barcelona City Council and produced by Rebobinart, with the collaboration of the Nou Barris District and local neighborhood communities.
The project recovers collective memories and local identities through murals, installations, and participatory processes, addressing themes such as older age, sustainability, migration, neighborhood women, vernacular architecture, or sport as a force for cohesion. Each intervention adds a piece to Nou Barris’ shared story, reinforcing the value of memory and the role of urban art as a tool for social transformation.