The 24th Elementary School in Sarandaporou Street in Agios Eleftherios is now hosting an incredible mural made in collaboration with Urban Act. A dynamic, cheerful, colourful owl by the hands of the new star of street art, the Argentinean muralist and illustrator Fio Silva!
Fio Silva won a competition among young artists from 40 countries, and now she has the opportunity to travel and paint murals in the street art capitals, Athens being one of them.
The Municipality of Athens, through its project, coordinated by the Culture Office of the Mayor of Athens and other similar artistic initiatives through its cultural programming, supports the artists and simultaneously upgrades Athens’ relationship with contemporary art forms. By promoting contemporary art in urban landscapes, in an organized manner and with absolute respect for public space, we beautify the city centre and its neighbourhoods. We add colour to cover its grey facades and make the city even more attractive for Greek and foreign street artists to create and express themselves, interacting with the city and its inhabitants.
The Mayor of Athens, Kostas Bakoyannis, stated on the occasion: “We want a vibrant, creative city, a city that becomes the canvas for young creators from all over the world! We want Athens to attract different forms of creativity. After all, it is open, cosmopolitan and full of energy because it has a past and a future!”
After Ino, Cacao Rocks, Kez, Tristan Eaton, Leonidas Giannakopoulos, Guido van Helten and many others, Fio Silva from Argentina has her own work of art in Athens.
Nature and wildlife, in particular, play a leading role in her works. Her bright colours depict the natural world, while her compositions, full of energy, immediately attract the eye. Her works can be found on walls in South America, England, Holland, Spain, Portugal, France, Italy and the USA, among others.
About her work in Athens, she stated: “For Athens, I thought of an owl, a symbol of the city and an animal that exists in Greece, and its totem, as an animal of power, represents wisdom, communication between the visible and the invisible world, and ‘hearing’ what is not heard. I wanted to add colour and “spirit” to the mural so that passersby and school children will enjoy and be drawn to it.”