The history of street art in Bogota

The history of street art in Bogota resembles the history of street art elsewhere in the world. From the shadows to the light, from clandestinity to institutionalization.

But Bogota’s street art scene has a history all its own, linked to the complex history of Colombia, the city of Bogota and tragic events.

Disclaimer: we apologize in advance for any grammatical or syntactic errors, as our native language is not English (we're a Colombian-French couple), so we hope you'll forgive us and still enjoy the information we share with you! Please note that all the information on our blog is based on our own experience, and is checked and updated regularly.

Content

1. History of street art in Bogota

2. Drama in Bogota’s street art world

3. How Justin Bieber saved street art in Bogota (in spite of himself)

4. Get in touch with local guide

5. Practical information to visit Bogota

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History of street art in Bogota

When walls speak of society

The history of graffiti in Bogota is said to date back to the 1980s, when then-President Belisario Betancur succeeded in securing the first peace agreement with FARC and invited the population to “paint peace” in the streets.

Messages appeared on Bogota’s walls, often of a social nature. Power, politics, guerrilla warfare, paramilitaries, drug trafficking… there’s no shortage of themes in Colombia, and they’re thrown onto the walls like a silent cry.

With the influence of American hip-hop culture, young people grabbed spray paint cans and started tagging city walls. This movement generated misunderstanding and drove graffiti underground.

Yet it was these early “taggers” who would go on to become the greatest artists on the Bogotan scene, creating the huge, colorful frescoes for which the city is famous.

If today street art is encouraged and is part of the cultural face of Bogota, in the 1990s graffiti was an underground and persecuted world, using an art considered vandalism.

Throughout the world, and in Bogota too, one of the graffiti artists’ primary claims to fame was to denounce art reserved for museums and the elite , and to promote art that was free and accessible to all, art by the people for the people, and a reappropriation of public space.

The techniques evolved over time, and with the influence of international artists from the painting and illustration worlds, and the Mexican school of muralism in South America, the face of Bogota was transformed into a giant fresco.

Drama in Bogota’s street art world

History of street art in Bogota

In 2011, a tragedy changed the face of street art in Bogota: in the middle of the night, a 16-year-old graffiti artist, Diego Felipe Becerra, was shot dead by a police officer while painting on a wall. A huge scandal ensued, the art community was shocked and many voices were raised to denounce police violence against graffiti artists.

The tragedy was an electroshock, and the enormous media coverage of the affair played a role in changing attitudes, not only on the part of the authorities, but also on the part of the general public and the artists themselves.

From then on, artists began to paint during the day and to sign their works in order to be identified and recognized. A dialogue will begin with the town hall, but here again we’ll have to wait for a new milestone before things really change.

How Justin Bieber saved street art in Bogota (in spite of himself)

History of street art in Bogota

In 2013, Justin Bieber (Canadian singer), came to Bogota to give a concert. A graffiti artist in his spare time, he wanted to paint on a Bogota wall. The singer was then accompanied by a police escort so that he could paint a city wall in complete safety. The images outraged Bogota’s street art community!

The following night, hundreds of murals appeared on the city’s walls, and the message was simple: if Justin Bieber can paint a wall legally, then all artists should be able to do the same without fear of being arrested or worse… killed.

With its back to the wall, City Hall launched the Distrito graffiti program to calm things down, and regulations were drawn up to give permission to paint buildings, bridges and city walls.

The last few years have seen a major shift towards the institutionalization of street art in Bogota. The city council grants permits, and private individuals and companies call on graffiti artists to create works, which for some artists leads to professionalization.

For others, however, this development undermines the very essence of street art, which has always been linked to a form of clandestinity or, at any rate, an “outlaw” practice using public space to express an artistic gesture of protest.

Of course, in Bogota as elsewhere, the underground spirit of street art is still present, and we’re a long way from a world where every drawing, every graffiti, every mural, is subject to official authorization.