The story behind Quinta do Mocho. One of Tings Lisbon’s street art picks.
How Street Art brought Lisbon's once ostracised Quinta do Mocho to the international art scene.
Yesterday I asked our friend Britta Thomsen what she recommends people on the way to Lisbon for the first time.
A day in Sacavém is one of her own best experiences in Lisbon in a very long time.
I understand that. With more than 80 walls Savacem is the biggest Outdoor Gallery in Lisbon – and the best in our opinion. Especially when you know the positive impact street art has had on this once miserable part of town.
So I use this occasiníon to reblog this old blogpost from August 2018 about this amazing part of town.
Located half an hour outside of central Lisbon, Quinta do Mocho is one of the city’s many social housing projects, built cheaply and quickly in the 1990s and cut off from the main city thanks to a lack of public transport. Its residents are mostly from the former Portuguese colonies of Cape Verde, Guinea and Angola, and a combination of social exclusion, high unemployment and poor housing standards have contributed to the area suffering from high crime rates and a number of social problems.
However, residents are working to combat their forced ghettoisation by transforming the area into a tourist attraction through the use of street art. Over the past four years, 94 incredible works by artists from all over the world have been added to the sides of apartment blocks. Visitors can come see these independently or as part of a guided tour – an activity I’m taking part in today.
However, residents are working to combat their forced ghettoisation by transforming the area into a tourist attraction through the use of street art. Over the past four years, 94 incredible works by artists from all over the world have been added to the sides of apartment blocks. Visitors can come see these independently or as part of a guided tour – an activity I’m taking part in today.
The best street art in Lisbon is 1 hr from us Lisbon has become a pilgrimage site for artists and street art aficionados. We get mails every week from guests and friends who ask about the scene: Where to go, what to see and when.
Today Lisbon has so many walls that most travellers won’t have time to see them all. And stressing around to ✓ walls in parts of town with nothing else to see (or do) at the expense of all the beautiful parts Lisbon offers with lots of things to see don’t make any sense. So unless people are looking for specific artists we usually tell them to combine – or include – street art in whatever itinerary the may have. Lisbon has art everywhere. In some occasion we recommend people to book a guided tour OR download a street art map on their mobile and do a tour themselves – by foot or on bicycle.
When dedicated street art connoisseurs with plenty of time contact us we recommend them to check out Quinta do Mocho that has grown from a suburban troubled neighborhood a few years ago to Europe’s biggest and coolest Open Air Gallery with more than 80 official walls bye Portuguese and foreign artists. Yesterday The Independent brought a super feature about Quionto do Mocho’s by Jessica Bateman.
A good story cannot be repeated too often
The painting by Angolan-Portuguese artist Nomen is undoubtedly "the most important one" for people who live in the Quinta do Mocho housing project, because "it sums up our history," guide Emanuela Kalemba says during a visit of the neighbourhood.
"She symbolises the social mask that neighbourhood residents must put on outside. To apply for work, or get into school, we often have to give a fake address to avoid saying where we come from," the 30-something woman tells a group of around 50 visitors, including many pensioners decked out in rain gear.
"She symbolises the social mask that neighbourhood residents must put on outside. To apply for work, or get into school, we often have to give a fake address to avoid saying where we come from," the 30-something woman tells a group of around 50 visitors, including many pensioners decked out in rain gear.
Three Relevant links
