The non-profit organization FREE&UNION, in collaboration with the artistic office STREETATELIER, with the support of the MUNICIPALITY OF THESSALONIKI and sponsorship from CONVERSE through its global initiative CONVERSE CITY FORESTS, completed a mural at the intercultural education school. Ecologically innovative paints with beneficial properties were used, conveying messages related to sustainability. The area covered by the mural has an environmental impact equivalent to 122 trees.
We would like to thank the intercultural education school and its principal, Mr. Christos Karaberis, the Deputy Mayor of Technical Works, Mr. Makis Kirizidis, the Deputy Mayor of Education, Ms. Ioanna Kosmopoulou, and the Mayor, Mr. Konstantinos Zervas, who supported us from the very beginning in realizing the mural.
THE CITY FOREST PROJECT
The streets are filled with art from eco-friendly paints.
The new campaign Converse City Forest finds the world’s best muralists and together they create murals with the theme of Breaking Barriers using sustainable paints that clean the air.
Inspired by the ‘breaking of norms’ of a generation dreaming of a better future on issues such as inclusivity, gender equality, racism, and diversity, the Converse murals in Athens and Thessaloniki are made from eco-friendly materials that interact with carbon dioxide, leaving a positive footprint. The KNOxOUT paint uses sunlight to reduce harmful atmospheric pollutants, cleaning the air.
Converse believes that personal expression and art have the power to reflect today’s times, provoke dialogue, and build bridges among us. The murals in highly visible areas of each city are a public call for progress, bringing new meaning to street art to create a more sustainable future.
The #ConverseCityForests project has landed in Thessaloniki with a mural focusing on rights. The creators are street artist Simoni Fontana @simonifontana from Corfu and graffiti street artist Argiris Arslanidis @argirisser from Thessaloniki.
The mural titled LOVE IS LOVE relates to equality. The two heroines fight daily for the rights of nationality, racial, and sexual equality. The artistic style of the work is characterized by sensitivity and an almost childlike innocence, as with all the artist’s works. In this particular piece, we see the portraits of two female superheroes surrounded by two halos.
A few words from the creators about their work:
The school where the mural was created is intercultural. Certainly, the boundaries we need to overcome through art are things that are generally needed across the planet, such as gender equality and ecology, which are very important for our evolution as a human species and the protection of the planet. Art can help convey messages to our communities, so graffiti and street art are prime examples of art that try to pass messages to the communities.
As cities reopen, the hope is that these murals can serve as a bright spot: sparking dialogue about the role art plays in our daily lives on the streets and projecting a more sustainable and just future through the messages the local creators emit.
STAY TUNED for the next City Forest Projects, which will be completed in a few days!
CONVERSE says…
We’re bringing ALL STAR creatives together to design and paint environmentally friendly murals across the globe.
How it works
We are partnering with our creative community to create Converse City Forests, a series of murals around the globe that uses Graphenstone’s ecological air purifying paint to eliminate harmful substances such as CO2, formaldehydes and gases, improving the air quality around the murals. The paint’s lime base absorbs CO2 during the drying process, acting similar to a tree. This way, any surface coated with it becomes an active air-purifying surface that helps protect people from harmful substances.
Stay Connected
Follow #ConverseCityForests to see what we’re doing around the globe to clean up communities just like yours.
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