Students Pick Up Brushes to Fight Graffiti in a Crime-Plagued Community in Mexico Jean Guerrero - KPBS.org
go to original June 2, 2015

KPBS interviews Tijuana Community Program Advancing Students Forward working on their 2015 mural with Muralist Enrique Chiu and Director Monica Santos. (Advancing Students Forward)

Seventeen-year-old Manuel Martinez smeared green paint on a graffiti-covered wall on the outskirts of Tijuana, creating entwined stems sprouting up under a message he had written in Spanish: “Life is short. Read faster.”

Martinez was one of dozens of Mexican students creating a mural on the wall of an elementary school in a town called Tecolote, which has been plagued by an increase in drug-related violence and other crime. The students painted inspiring messages and bright-colored suns, hearts, birds, trees, silhouettes and other images over illegible graffiti symbols and scribbles.

“We want to get rid of all the ugly stuff and make (the wall) really beautiful, so that children will feel more motivated to come to their school,” he said.

Other messages on the wall included, “Take Care Of Your Community,” and “Be Happy.” The mural was the culminating event of a two-year art education project, EDUCARTE, with Advancing Students Forward, a nonprofit that helps disadvantaged Tijuana students gain access to education.

Graffiti is a big problem in this town on the southern edge of Tijuana. Monica Santos, director of Advancing Students Forward, said most of the town’s once-blank communal spaces have been scrawled over with graffiti.

She said she wanted the students to work on a mural because of the historical significance murals have in the culture of Mexico and the opportunity they present to impart positive messages.

Read the rest at KPBS.org

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