Local Heroes: Boa Mistura

Boa Mistura

A street art group from Madrid is changing the world through art. We met one of the members of Boa Mistura to discover how they’re doing just that.

Words by MARTA AGUILAR CEREZO Picture courtesy of BOA MISTURA

One day in Madrid as the sun began to disappear, the lights in each window slowly started to turn off and streets started to empty out, a van burst into the city. Five young men jumped out, quick and precise, and they left a message crossroad by crossroad. The next morning the city woke up to the scene of a restless hunt for poetry on the sidewalks of Madrid before it all faded away. “A demonstration of love from artists and poets, for our beloved Madrid,” it read. We knew it was only a temporary thing, which made it finding every single verse in each corner of the city even more special. Somehow this poetry was made for us as citizens, and we each felt like a part of that poem spread all over town.

Ten hands, five minds, and a little paint They hang from the ceilings some meters above the ground or run barefoot with children in the Brazilian slums. They are acrobats, activists and artists, but especially a group of friends from Madrid: Juan “Derko” Jaume, Pablo “Arkoh” Ferreiro, Javier “Pahg” Serrano, Rubén “RDick” Martín, and Pablo “Purone” Puron. Collectively, they are Boa Mistura. Proud of their origins in Alameda de Osuna, their neighborhood on the outskirts of Madrid, this group has been making a career from their passions since 2001. Ten hands and five minds dedicated to a single idea can transform a façade, a building or a whole street—with the help of a little paint. Most importantly, they are able to touch people’s souls. “Doctors heal your heart, mechanics fix cars, and artists touch your hearts,” Ruben (“RDick”) said when he spoke at TEDxMadrid. Boa Mistura doesn’t just speak for Madrid anymore, but for the whole wide world. We learned something instantly when we went to meet Boa Mistura at their dazzling studio in the heart of Madrid. Something great can be born only by putting passion and hard work into it. Pablo (“Arkoh”) explains: “At first only we painted graffiti, but we started to mix and blend not only on the wall, but with each others knowledge. A civil engineer, an architect, a graphic designer and a publicist came together to make a single move.” Diversity and a clear vision opened their mind to new ways of working. Boa Mistura was already painting in places like Berlin and Norway when they changed their path drastically by going to South Africa after being invited by an urban art gallery. Their first project in a township changed their lives, along with their way of working. After South Africa, Boa Mistura traveled to São Paulo and Panamá, leaving huge footprints behind. The project Crossroads was born. The street is Boa Mistura’s common language, their roots. Graffiti taught them to lose the fear of breaking rules. “You don’t establish limits yourself,” says Arkoh, whom we talked to about fear, change, positivity and more.

Graffiti and vandalism are often connected. I guess you’ve discussed this topic many times? Well, at first graffiti gave us no fear of breaking the rules to work on the street. That’s what we do and what we like: working on the street. What happens is that we work in an opposite direction to graffiti as it is perceived, or as it has been understood for many years. Vandalism means doing something destructive. And I would say there is a difference from what we do. We paint with a much wider range of communication, we write to the world with messages trying to improve what is out there. We always ask ourselves: “What we are about to do, will it make things better?” If the answer is yes then we do it, and if not, we don’t. We care because we know that we are working somewhere that is not ours, it is public space that belongs to everyone. We have chosen to do something that hooks most people: positive messages, universal values that captivate them. So you manage to connect with a vast majority of people, but we are never going to please everyone.

Where have you found the most obstacles to creating your works of art? In Madrid, because we live here. This is where we try to work more, because we love Madrid, but for many years we have been demonized. This is starting to change, but for a long time we have been persecuted and it has been practically impossible for us to work in Madrid. We are now starting to talk with the city council, which for the moment at least has the willingness to listen. But we believe in what we do and we like to take a gamble.

Tell us how working in South Africa changed your perspective. For a couple of weeks, not knowing what to do, we started walking around the neighborhood, talking to residents and children.“Suddenly we saw that the neighbors had many things to say and that had to be taken into account.

What is Crossroads about? This project is more a philosophy of using art as a tool for change in places where there aren’t many resources. Modest communities are where we really think our work can generate a bigger impact. Because these are places where nobody really wants to invest, we think there’s an enormous receptivity to any kind of improvement. And in our case, that’s painting. There are projects that are very special, but maybe São Paulo and South Africa are the ones that have changed us the most as individuals. You change something and you come back home changed, and that change is reflected in the following projects.

Finally, after all the places you have seen and traveled to, would you still choose Madrid as a place to stay? What does Madrid mean to Boa Mistura?

Yes. Madrid is our home, our roots. As a group we were

born here, and that makes it very important. As much

as I travel, it is important to always have a place that you can call home. We have a lot of affection for this city, and the more we step outside the more fondly we feel. The more you travel, the more you appreciate the good things about your home, and that’s what happens to us with Madrid. Hopefully we will be able do more things here in the future, because we are really looking forward to it. Follow Boa Mistura’s work and watch how they are changing the world through art. There’s much more to come from these five young men and their passion for change. Thank you, Boa Mistura for opening your doors to us. See you next time, in Madrid or across the ocean, on a façade, on a rooftop. Who knows? ¢ boamistura.com

“You change something and you come back home changed.”

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Words by MARTA AGUILAR CEREZO Pictures by MANUEL AZURMENDI