by Jessie Shor:
The low-slung buildings of Barrio Bellavista, a neighborhood near downtown Santiago peppered with small shops and cafes, serve as the canvases of the city’s graffiti artists. The walls of nearly every structure display massive murals, which range from the political to the psychedelic . According to Nacho Rojas, a Santiago photographer who has posted his pictures on walls, the graffiti is officially illegal, but governed by mutual understanding between the city government and the artists: the painters know to confine their work to certain neighborhoods, and officials turn a blind eye. Below are some of the murals we spotted on our first day exploring Santiago.
