Isla Maciel, Buenos Aires, Argentina 🇦🇷
Pintó La Isla Festival
Curated by Gerardo Montes de Oca
“Herencia de Buenos Aires” series
Acrylic paint on concrete wall
10 x 6 m
2015
•
Isla Maciel, which is not actually an island, is a neighborhood in the southern part of Buenos Aires, more precisely in Dock Sud, the port area of the city. At the end of the 19th century and beginning of the 20th century different cultures from Spain, Italy, the former Yugoslavia and Poland converged in this zone. They settled on the banks of the Riachuelo river, at the time enable to swim and nowadays completely contaminated. It quickly became a multicultural region and one of the most important immigration entrances into the American continent. In the last fifty years different communities settled in the area, such as Brazil, Bolivia, Uruguay, Perú and Republic of Cabo Verde.
The artwork is located right at the entrance of the neighborhood. The day I started to work six supporters of San Telmo football club came to the wall and proposed me to paint the club shield somewhere in the wall. I answered that I was going to do it if they helped me to work. Club Atlético San Telmo plays in the fourth national league division and the stadium is located in Isla Maciel, strongly rooted in Dock Sud culture. After a hesitant moment, each man took a roller and started to work. We shared together the hot and sunny day.
During the last day a lot of people asked me about the absence of the Argentina flag. What I think is that there was no need for his representation. This work talks about the country immigration history. I think that the yellow circle is an analogy of the Sun, a symbol present in Argentina flag that fulfills the function of “unifying element”.
In the artwork you can see the flags of each country named below, united and in somehow, “landing” on the ground. Finally, in the upper right corner you can see the shield of Club Atlético San Telmo.