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Portuguese street artists Bordalo II and Vhils recently collaborated on a mural for the Cor de Chelas Festival titled ‘Evolution’ combining their distinct but complementary styles.
Image Copyright artists Bordalo II and Vhils
“We’ve been wanting to collaborate for some time, and creating a piece for the Cor de Chelas presented a great opportunity. When we saw the final result, we were pleased and decided to proceed with an edition. Vhils focuses on human portraits, while I often depict animals, so it provided a perfect context to explore the theory of evolution (Darwin).”
Bordalo II
Bordalo II is known for creating three-dimensional assemblages from discarded trash, plastics, and waste materials, while Vhils excels in carving striking portraits into walls, both artists using power tools.
Image Copyright artists Bordalo II and Vhils
Their collaborative mural featured Bordalo II’s signature use of trash to create a half-chimpanzee, highlighting his commitment to sustainability and environmental consciousness.
Image Copyright artists Bordalo II and Vhils
On the other half of the mural, Vhils chiselled Charles Darwin’s portrait into the wall.
Image Copyright artists Bordalo II and Vhils
Naturalist and geologist Charles Darwin was an influential figure in the field of natural science and is best known for his theory of evolution by natural selection. His groundbreaking work, “On the Origin of Species,” presented a compelling argument for the idea that all species of life have evolved over time from common ancestors through a process of natural selection.
The term “Survival of the Fittest” was made famous in Charles Darwin’s fifth edition of “On the Origin of Species (published in 1869).
Darwin’s theory of evolution posited that organisms best adapted to their environment are more likely to survive and reproduce, passing on their advantageous traits to future generations. This process, known as natural selection, results in the gradual change of species over time.
Bordalo II and Vhils paid homage to Darwin’s legacy by featuring imagery of Charles Darwin in their collaborative mural along with the chimpanzee.
Image Copyright artists Bordalo II and Vhils
Darwin’s discoveries revolutionised the principles of Victorian Britain with his explanation that diversity arose from biological processes without divine intervention. Darwin placed humans on an equal evolutionary footing with all creatures on the planet. His revolutionary insights into the mechanisms of evolution have had a huge impact on our understanding of the natural world and continue to shape scientific discourse to this day where Human and chimp DNA has been found to be so similar because the two species are so closely related.
Image Copyright artists Bordalo II and Vhils
The split composition of the chimpanzee and Darwin in their mural serves as the perfect visual representation of the evolutionary concepts pioneered by Charles Darwin and also sparks conversations about the interconnectedness of all life forms and the impact of human activity on the natural world.
Image Copyright Bordalo II and Vhils
