the street is our gallery

We currently inhabit a world that has been building more walls than ever before, separating communities, neighborhoods, cities and countries creating a sense of separation, exclusion, danger, and limitation. More walls are being built everyday, and destroying those walls is not the key anymore. MasterPeace aims towards transforming those Walls of Separation into Walls of Connection.
MasterPeace is a UN-recognized grassroots, peace-movement working towards the Sustainable Development Goals to make cities around the world more developed, sustainable, and liveable. This project works towards SDG 11 “Sustainable Cities and Communities” as we believe that art can lead to creating more open, connected and livable cities. In our project Let’s Colour Walls of Connection which in partnership with AkzoNobel where we aim together to transform 100 walls in 40 countries to inspire and energize cities to be more connected, livable and colorful.

Our goal is to colour walls that are dividing communities or bear negative connotation for the local people and to bring communities together to create murals and by working together to make the wall a positive colourful location for them.
It is a colourful wave across the globe from Africa, Europe to Asia and all the way Latin America. The project is one of the biggest art projects ever of its kind, as communities are painting walls from one city to the next involving thousands of community members and reaching out to millions around the world.

At this moment, we have around 30 walls all around the world vibrantly energizing and inspiring locals around them and moving forward from one country to the next. Each one of them tells a unique story and involves different communities. There are more walls to come and more beautiful stories and colours to share.

As a glimpse, we take you into a trip from some of our walls in different countries telling a story of transformation, vibrancy and connection

Paris, France

Our project transformed the walls of Théâtre de Verre in Paris into a MasterPeace. The fresco was performed collectively with the community, artists from South America lead the artist Juana Sabina and the students of the association Aves de Paso. The walls is to connect and integrate the Latin American community in the French culture without losing their identity.
The lady represents the Earth. She gives fruits and gathers people with different colours and flavours. The idea is to visualize that nature has no borders, nor nationality. The people in the painting are free to move, this is symbolized by the bird-fish who can go wherever they want. It is a piece from South America in ‘the City of Lights’.

Utrecht, Netherlands

The event took place in the neighborhood Overvecht, which consists of a diverse community. Not only are 105 nationalities present in this neighborhood, but also refugees call it their ‘home’. In order to bring these groups together, we planned a wall in the neighborhood that is becoming the connection neighborhood.
The design resembles the 105 nationalities living in the neighborhood and therefore ‘peace’ is written in multiple languages to appeal everyone. This can be linked to the theme ‘inclusiveness’. The hands visualize how peace can be carried by everyone and it symbolizes the belief peace can spread worldwide.

Kitu, Ecuador
We transformed the walls of Casa de la Cultura Benjamín Carrión is the national headquarters of art and culture of Ecuador where it hosted the global Habitat III Conference
This masterpiece was envisioned by the indigenous Sairy Lligalo who shaped the ideals of union and tolerance between two great Latin American cultures: the Mesoamerican and the Andean, taking the differences as wealth and not as a factor of exclusion.
The idea is to symbolize the ideals of union and tolerance, to expressing the enormous concern for the care towards the environment, and some collaboration from the community and AkzoNobel employees!

Ghent, Belgium

Our collaborators “Wallin’”’helped us paint concrete loading docks (De grindbakken) that were built after WW II. The artists were influenced by the topic of Peace…Connection…Culture…Positivism…Love…Respect…Unity. Everyone was welcomed to draw their design. Around 50 artists (local and international) from various backgrounds and using different painting techniques gathered to show their designs.They had the chance to exchange ideas, knowledge and experience. People from Ghent were engaged with workshops showing them the importance of street art and how it can help restore neglected areas of the city.

Keep following us through the hashtags #LetsColour #WallsofConnection #HumanCities #MasterPeace

If you want to contribute and join the wave, you can sign up from this link.

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MasterPeace is a global grassroots peace movement currently in 47 countries www.masterpeace.org