What’s behind this graffiti?

By Juan Camilo Peña (undergradute Social Communication student. Level 4 English)

Throughout our lives, we pass through many places, and without much thought, we let ourselves miss out on so many of the things around us, both big and small. This is the case with this marvellous piece of art that takes the form of graffiti. What we have here is a love story in the most unlikely of places, known as the Bronx, in downtown Bogotá. This graffiti is a replica of a photograph taken by a photo-journalist, Hector Fabio Zamora.

This piece of art narrates the full expression of love between two homeless people, Hernan and Diana. During the Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos’ visit to the Bronx, this couple decided to express their love in the form of a kiss, paying no mind to the amount of security that swarmed the entire city. Their only thought was to give the best of themselves to each other. Hernan and Diana had known each other for more than six years, during which they were only able to see each other for three. That is, until they met again during a drug buy, and since this accidental run-in, they have not dared to part from each other. This shared addiction is what drove them both to the street, without any money for anything as basic as a place to sleep at night. Most nights, they would find themselves sleeping on the streets of Bogotá, joining their bodies for heat as they waited fo the sun to break the darkness of night.

This representation of love covers the side of a building that stretches eight stories high, on the corner of 26^th Street with 15^th Avenue. The artists given the task of creating this piece of art were members of the artistic group known as Vertigo Graffiti, which won a contest held by IdeaTres. This company, IdeaTres, is an advertising agency that adorns architecture with new designs and images as a form of visual communication. The scene of love expressed in the painting lets us accept love in all its forms, because this love blossomed in the harshest of places between two people who were never expecting it.