All City Canvas
All City Canvas
In March of 2016, the Portuguese artists Alexandre Farto, better known as Vhils, created five murals in Mexico - three in Mexico City, one in the city of León, in the state of Guanajuato and the last one in the city of Hermosillo, in the state of Sonora – all produced by CBG.
The notion of time
Following his style, Vhils created portraits of anonymous Mexicans he briefly spoke to during this first visit to the country, a child, a teen, a woman, and a senior. These murals are a visual poem on the cycle of life.
The beginning
To Vhils, death is not the end, but the beginning. Everything flows forward and outward. The first mural depicts the face of a youngster that dissolves into the shape of a skull. As a subtle reminder of the cult of the dead in our country, this mural shows that destruction always leads to the creation of something new. In it, death and life come together and cease to be opposites.
VHILS CBG 4 (2016/2016) by VhilsAll City Canvas
VHILS CBG 3 (2016/2016) by VhilsAll City Canvas
In the second mural, Vhils captures a woman selling oranges – and image with which he revives the mural he made in Juarez Street in 2012 that is now covered. A longing for something that is now no longer there. The woman's eyes give it away as well.
This mural is seen as a testimony of the past and forces us to think about the people that have made us who we are today.
The same occurs in the third mural, which depicts a man whose face reveals the weight of the past in every wrinkle. However, his gaze is filled with hope as he looks out into the distance. The attention to the past is shifted to the future, and it reminds the viewer that the only way to move forward is to be aware of the history and the past.
VHILS CBG 12 (2016/2016) by VhilsAll City Canvas
We return to our origins in order to be even more aware of our commitment to tomorrow. In the fourth mural, Vhils points out that it is the youth that must revive and continue the legacy of our ancestors. In it, a young woman, smiling, looks out to a field of crops. She sees them flourish and grow.
It gives rise to a dialogue about building a sustainable future and, at the same time, it reminds young viewers they have the fate of the future in their hands.
VHILS CBG 19 (2016/2016) by VhilsAll City Canvas
VHILS CBG 20 (2016/2016) by VhilsAll City Canvas
As the saying goes, "it is easier to raise strong children than to repair broken men." Our historical memory and ancestral legacy are fostered in our education, which is why Vhils ends the series in a school. At the top of the building, he portrays a little boy whose eyes look up at to the skies, as an encouragement to look further and reach higher. Reinvigorated, we realize that the future is already here.
VHILS CBG 13 (2016/2016) by VhilsAll City Canvas
VHILS CBG 14 (2016/2016) by VhilsAll City Canvas
VHILS CBG 11 (2016/2016) by VhilsAll City Canvas
VHILS CBG 5 (2016/2016) by VhilsAll City Canvas
All City Canvas
