Trained at the UNR, architect Vanesa Galdeano and fine arts graduate Anali Chanquia painted murals in 60 cities and became international references in urban art.
Their works are poetically and visually transformed portraits that struggle to break out of architectural molds. They are the creators of “Medianeras”, a project that was born in Rosario in 2013 and has now toured more than twenty countries with their large-scale paintings.
“We are very proud of the journey we have made, the growth and experience over these years, which is the result of a lot of work,” say the artists who painted walls with 40-metre-high cranes in just a few days in cities such as Milan.
Both recognize that the Universidad Nacional de Rosario She changed her outlook on the world in a critical and reflective way that permeated them. Vanesa remembers the Galli Chair of the Architecture course where they did important work on the outskirts, which gave her an urban and social view of the city. Another thing that stands out about her academic training is teamwork. “You never do things alone, but with a group of artists, and that enriches you.”
The city of Rosario allowed them to carry out their first projects and grow in a self-managed way. Today they have wide recognition on the international scene for their paintings in cities such as Brussels, Palermo, Oslo, Lisbon, Vienna, Brisbane (Australia), Wuppertal (Germany), Vancouver (Canada), Tirana (Albania), Morlaix (France).
When they met, Vanesa had already had a long career in the production of urban mosaics in the city of Rosario. Through a mosaic teaching and production workshop called “Musivaria”, she carried out more than thirty public and collective interventions of various formats and in different places. Today they can still be found in parks, squares, the bus terminal, on the parapets of the river, among others.
Since 2010, Anali has been experimenting with various painting techniques, creating murals on the streets of the city as part of a series called “Artist seeks wall.” The aim of this project was to create walls around the city that would lead to the creation of new walls to continue painting and experimenting on the streets of Rosario.
When Vanesa and Anali met, they began to mix painting and mosaic techniques with different formats. This caught the attention of several companies in the city who sought the originality of their proposals and at the same time supported their artistic career. Companies from the agricultural sector, construction companies, insurance companies, mutuals, sanatoriums, local restaurants and bars allowed the growth of the “Medianeras” project and the possibility of carrying out their works in larger formats.
In parallel to the commissions from private individuals, they took advantage of the opportunity to develop their more artistic and free work, presenting proposals to urban art festivals that were beginning to take place in various countries and that promoted the meeting of international artists. It consisted of painting a large-format mural in a certain time, generally between 4 and 15 days.
“The murals we make focus on the representation of gender in its great diversity. Although the works vary according to where they are located and the way they are observed, one of the most common characteristics are faces whose gender is not necessarily determined,” they explain, clarifying that this theme closely corresponds to their way of thinking about gender.
“Throughout our education, we are taught what a man does and what a woman should do. However, gender is something that can fluctuate and not adapt to a binary imposition. We want our works to convey the message of a broad concept of gender, contemplating the entire spectrum of the collective,” they emphasize.
Their works reflect individuals, poetically and visually transformed, who struggle to break out of the moulds they find themselves in, which are the architectures they are in. “That is why we like to make holes in spaces, as if we were knocking down walls,” they say.
They create these portraits using a technique called “anamorphosis” which consists of distorting the image as it moves away from the point from which it is observed, creating an illusory three-dimensional effect. “This distortion interests us because it generates a deformation of the image, creating other beauties, far removed from the proportionate representation of the portraits,” they say.
The idea is to claim the validity of the different points of view and to clarify that many times some perspectives are illusory. Also to emphasize that we all have different points of view depending on our history, culture, place of origin, realities.
The creative process has several stages. Once they have decided on which specific wall the work will be done, they carry out research on the place, see what the route is like to get to it, how it looks from different points, if it has windows, what is around it and what the colour palette of the environment is to take into account. Based on all this information, they discuss the ideas and make the design. Then comes the most important moment for them, the action, the moment of capturing the work on the wall and sharing the place with the community. “There is another turn and things happen that were not planned.”
Why the name “Medianeras”? Unlike walls, which are only used to separate spaces, medianeras are those shared between neighbors. This concept attracted them because they believe that public art, in addition to beautifying cities, vindicates the idea of a place shared by all individuals. “We seek to change the usual way in which we perceive spaces, alter the urban landscape of the street and enjoy the creative process with the community of each place where we paint,” they say.
In this way, they participated in several festivals, but when they arrived in Lisbon, they realized that their work had grown and that “Medianeras” already had international renown. This happened in 2017 when they won a competition with ten other artists from Latin America, including the Brazilian Kobra and the Colombian Gleo, among others. Afterwards, their growth was exponential and they received many invitations to represent Argentina.
At the same time, Vanesa and Anali give lectures and classes on urban art at Art Universities, such as UDESC Florianópolis, QUT in Brisbane, Australia and conversations in places such as THRIVE in Vancouver, Canada and Museumsquartier in Vienna, Austria.
Initially, they travelled to these places from Rosario, but their work became increasingly in demand and they needed to travel more often. So, four years ago, they decided to move to L' Hospitalet, Barcelona, a city with a privileged geographical location that allows them to move easily. However, they return to Argentina every year-end to carry out urban projects proposed by different companies or municipalities.
Regarding her inspiration, Vanesa does not leave aside the classics but the greatest influence comes from her own colleagues, “contemporary artists who are in the same fight” because she believes that urban art is a social action.
Web: www.medianeras.net IG: @medianerasmurales
Journalist: Victoria Arrabal