Living Walls, The City Speaks is an annual street art conference co-founded in 2009 by Monica Campana & Blacki Migliozzi. Blankenship, Jessica (13 August 2010)
"Living Walls"
''Creative Loafing''. The conference was first held in 2010. It was originally held in

Atlanta, Georgia Atlanta ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is the seat of Fulton County, the most populous county in Georgia, but its territory falls in both Fulton and DeKalb counties. With a population of 498,715 ...

. In 2011, a sister event, called "Living Walls, Albany" was also held in

Albany, New York Albany ( ) is the capital of the U.S. state of New York, also the seat and largest city of Albany County. Albany is on the west bank of the Hudson River, about south of its confluence with the Mohawk River, and about north of New York City ...

Events

During the events, local and invited artists create

murals A mural is any piece of graphic artwork that is painted or applied directly to a wall, ceiling or other permanent substrate. Mural techniques include fresco, mosaic, graffiti and marouflage. Word mural in art The word ''mural'' is a Spanish ...

and other street art. Artists often paint directly on vacant buildings, though always after showing plans to and acquiring permission from building owners. According to the organizer of the Albany event, "The entire point of this project is revitalization". The Atlanta events also included lectures and a gallery show. In 2012, only female artists were invited to participate.

Controversy

In 2012, the third year of the conference, the event ran into trouble with the Georgia state Department of Transportation (DOT) due to miscommunication from the city. This resulted in the DOT lacquering the street art piece, "An Allegory," produced by an artist invited by Living Walls. Another mural, created by an Argentine painter,

Hyuro Hyuro born Tamara Djurovic (1974 – November 19, 2020) was an Argentinian-born Street artist who came to notice when based in Valencia in Spain. Her huge murals appear in many countries. They frequently feature faceless women and they highlight i ...

, depicted a nude woman, and was vandalized. It was removed after residents called the mural "pornographic."

References

External links

* * {{Official website, 1=http://livingwallsalbany.com/, name=Living Walls Albany official website Art festivals in the United States Festivals in Atlanta Festivals in New York (state)