WALL CLAIM by Felipe Pincel
Barcelona
21.10.2020
Last October we held the second edition of Wall Claim, an initiative promoted by Wallspot and produced by Rebobinart. This art programme invites different artists who are part of the platform to paint an artistic intervention on the outer wall of the Centre Cultural La Farinera Del Clot in Barcelona. The motifs of the murals are always in tune with some of the International Days established by the UN. Wall Claim, thus, responds to the need to give visibility to certain social groups using art as a means and tool of social claim.
The theme of this edition has revolved around the Day of Non-Violence (October 2nd) and the artist Felipe Pincel has been in charge of creating a mural under this concept.
Felipe Pincel Echeverría is a Chilean artist who has a strong relationship with the Mapuche people, which is why he decided to dedicate his work to this group that has lived, and still lives, strong cultural and racial discrimination. His works, under a Latin American theme, usually have a political background that makes the viewer see the walls from a social perspective.
Pincel spent two days performing a mural that pays tribute to the Mapuche people. In this one, the viewer can see two referent women of this culture, a younger one accompanied by the word newen – that means strength -, and an older woman along with the word kimün – that means wisdom – . The piece is framed within an eight-pointed star, a symbol of the Mapuche iconography, called Guñelve, which has been given an ancient use. A heart formed from natural elements outstands on the central part of the mural in order to show the respect and passion that this ancient populace has for nature and the environment.
Once the work was finished, on October 21st Felipe Pincel, Antonio Navarrete and Heriberto Bravo, all of them Chilean artists aware of the cause, held a talk on the Mapuche cause seen from social muralism in the auditorium of CC La Farinera. After their discussion and interventions, there was a space for debate for the attendees to ask questions and share their own experiences.
This action received the support of Ayuntamiento de Barcelona, La Generalitat de Catalunya, Montana Colors, La Traca and the Federació d’Entitats Clot Camp de l’Arpa.
In the video, Felipe Pincel explains his Wall Claim mural, for the International Day of Non-Violence: a tribute to the Mapuche people. «Ever since I can remember I saw murals in the street that had to do with politics: that is where my way of seeing the wall socially comes from.»
Video transcript (translated from Spanish)2 min 24 s
I'm Felipe Pincel Echeverría, I'm a visual artist, a painter, a muralist. Coming from a South American country like Chile, my style of muralism comes from, or strongly evokes, Latin American visual language.
Ever since I can remember I saw murals in the street that had to do with politics. That is where my way of seeing the wall socially comes from: that is my purpose, if you like. I aim to show something that carries a message, not just something aesthetically pretty, so that people walking past leave with a question perhaps, or feel something shift. I don't know whether «stirring consciences» sounds too grand, but yes: that they leave with a question.
I think this occasion that Wallspot already had with Wall Claim for the International Day of Non-Violence, the fact that they decided to approach it socially, artistically, culturally… They had invited me to paint a mural and I was able to give voice to something as important as what is happening to one of my country's indigenous peoples, the Mapuche: a people who have been trampled on by the Chilean state for many years, who have been humiliated and had their lands taken from them. I think doing something in tribute to them in the middle of the city of Barcelona is a hugely important milestone for me, since it lets me make known in some way what is happening over there and put it in the spotlight, so that at least it becomes a little better known, especially for the people who live here.
Video transcript, edited for reading: repetitions and verbal fillers have been removed, the text has been punctuated and speakers are identified.
