Walls of BoHo, Antwerp’s newest street art festival, Belgium 2019

The ‘Walls of BoHo’ street art project has just wrapped up its first ever street art festival in the Borgerhout district of Antwerp.

The project was founded and curated by local street artist Joachim, who approached the local city government to ask if they saw any potential in organising a street art event in his local neighbourhood.

“Many neighbourhoods in and around Antwerp have successfully organised similar events and some are now well-known for their street art. Only Borgerhout, the district where I live, still in my opinion lagged behind . I wanted to change that with ‘Walls of BoHo’.” Joachim

Joachim wanted to show that the often negatively portrayed neighbourhood of Borgerhout has a lot of potential to offer and to show that street art can actually be an added value for a neighbourhood!

Five artists were invited to paint five murals, with Joachim being one of the artists to take part.

“It was important for the ‘Walls of BoHo” project to show different styles, so that people could see what was possible. and that street art, like the creative mind, has endless possibilities to offer.” Joachim

As curator of the project and well-known street artist in both Belgium and abroad, Joachim also lives in the Borgerhout neighbourhood and was proud to get up and paint. Joachim painted a portrait (in his own figurative style) of ‘Mala Zimetbaum’, as a tribute to this Jewish resistance fighter, who used to live in the area where her mural can now be found.

The artists invited were Sam Scarpulla from gent, an established value in the Belgian street art scene. Sam is currently experimenting with abstract forms and shapes.

2drirty from Antwerp. His comic-like style clearly shows that he has a background in the graffiti scene.

IoTA from Brussels. Through a very specific way of painting and the use of a sober, but very well thought-out colour palette, IOTA has created her very own visual language in recent years. Her sophisticated work has something dreamy and often feels surreal.

Lucia Biancalana from Italy. Lucia is a freelance illustrator who has been living and working in Antwerp for a few years. For ‘Walls Of BoHo’ she made her first mural ever!

The Walls of BoHo was such a success, the community of the Borgerhout neighbourhood want a second edition!

Watch this space ….

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