All posts tagged: Saiko

It’s their 5^th annual street art festival, Torrefarrera, although you may more accurately call it a mural festival. For a small village of less than 5,000, they have about 40 murals now, and an interactive map online to help you find them, even fund them if you like. Deeply rooted in history and regional pride this northern town is convenient to the A-2 motorway which connects Barcelona and Zaragoza.

A municipality in the province of Lleida and an autonomous community of Catalonia, Spain, their festival has been drawing people out into the street and into the community in a way that appears to be gratifying to many in the community. They even frame it as an inclusive competition to garner most votes for favorite and present awards at a public ceremony. Sponsored by the municipality, local institutions, and a paint company, you’re unlikely to find transgressive, or even disagreeable themes – but possibly educational.

Photographer Lluís Olivé Bulbena took a drive a few hours north of his home recently to capture some of the new walls that went up during the September festival. Looks like he captured many of this years locally-sourced artistic participants who range from former graffiti writers to commercial artists, including Gasic Painter (from Tarragona), Dil (Lleida), Folk & Miedo (València and Alacant), Nauni 69 & Dank (Almeria), Txus Montejano (Lleida), and Saiko 134 (Terres de l’Ebre).