Art or vandalism? It is the dilemma that always surrounds graffiti. Some people defend them tooth and nail, starting with their creators. Others, however, hate them to death.
Those who hate them almost always refer to those worthless scribbles that appear overnight anywhere in cities, whether on walls, blinds or medians. Hooliganism that does nothing more than provide work for the municipal cleaning services.
But then there are other types of graffiti, the beautiful ones, those of high aesthetic value. These are no longer vandalism: they are true works of art. They are usually painted by professional graffiti artists, but also by amateurs with great design skills. They are drawings taken care of by the authorities; works that respect street furniture and are liked even by those who hate them.
These types of urban art works beautify previously degraded or soulless spaces, which is why city councils even usually reserve large walls for graffiti artists to create their works.
Big walls like the ones in Staro Zhelezare, a small town located in a remote part of the interior of Bulgaria. Walls that serve as a blank canvas for street art artists. Despite having only 400 inhabitants, the town has become famous for its walls covered in graffiti.
But if there is something that attracts attention in the Bulgarian village, it is the theme of its graffiti: portraits of political and cultural personalities. Graffiti that turns Staro Zhelezare into an open-air celebrity museum.
You can see politicians like Donald Trump talking to a cow or being towed by a tractor, Joe Biden’s face designed in the style of Andy Warhol, Putin and Zelensky facing Kung Fu Panda or Gargamel talking to Boris Johnson. But characters from the world of culture and sport also appear, such as the Simpsons, the Little Prince, Jack Sparrow, Marilyn Monroe, Amy Winehouse, Freddie Mercury, John Lennon, Charles Chaplin, Groucho Marx, Mr. Bean, Albert Einstein or Maradona.
Furthermore, for a few years now, the portraits of these personalities have been combined with graffiti of residents of the town. Thus, Angela Merkel interacts with a grandmother or Barack Obama chats with another neighbor sitting on a bench.
The urban art project began more than a decade ago at the initiative of Polish-Bulgarian artists Katarzyna and Ventsislav Piryankov, helped by their students from the Polish city of Poznan. As they explain, with this project they intended to “use the town as a canvas and transform it into a work of art.” Its objective was and continues to be to bring life to the town, especially at a time when older people retire and young people emigrate to the cities in search of opportunities.
The initiative gained momentum in 2013. Since then, every summer an outdoor exhibition is held where you can see photographs of all the town’s works of art. This temporary exhibition, together with the permanent graffiti that spreads throughout the town, has earned Staro Zhelezare the title of “the most famous street art town in Eastern Europe.”
The motto is deserved. The truth is that the type of buildings in the town also helps. They are constructions from the Thracian period, made up of large walls that face the outside, since the windows are oriented towards an interior patio. A peculiarity that allows graffiti artists to enjoy large surfaces available to paint their works.
Staro Zhelezare increasingly welcomes more graffiti artists from more parts of the world. In addition, the town receives sponsorship from various institutions, both state and international. In 2018, MoMA New York launched its first rural branch in the Bulgarian town. In the exhibition you could see the best works of the New York museum in the form of open-air murals. Who was going to tell this remote village in central Bulgaria.
