You already know of my cat photo addiction but I also have a street art addiction. Of course, three months wasn't enough to photograph all of Lisbon's street art, but I took so many pictures, I think I might be cured of my disease! This article was first published TODAY on our Lisbon Travel Blog.
It didn’t surprise us to learn that Lisbon was home to a thriving street art scene. This is known as a somewhat anarchic city, with a large population of struggling, disaffected youth, and a fairly permissive culture. That’s the perfect combination for excellent graffiti: political, angry, sarcastic, weird and often beautiful. During the course of our stay in Lisbon, we’d discover something new every time we stepped outdoors.
We’ve highlighted street art in many of the locations we’ve visited, starting with Buenos Aires way back in 2011. But this worldwide phenomenon is well past its infancy, and we’re started to suspect that it’s already past its prime. You can buy Banksy’s art at auctions, for Christ’s sake, and everyone who considers themselves an “artist” is running around with ironic stencils. It’s gotten a little lame. Our personal fascination with street art ended after visiting Montreal’s Mural Festival, where corporations and banks were sponsoring artists in an attempt to co-opt their cool. Puke.
So Lisbon’s scene has been refreshing. There are definitely large-scale, sponsored works to be found in the city, but there’s also a lot more “Fuck You” art: stuff that’s not meant to be pretty, but provocative, like unicorns puking rainbows with their middle finger up at the EU’s austerity measures, ugly scrawls on white walls exhorting locals to rob tourists, and hilariously evil anti-Airbnb screeds.
This is more like it! As tourists, we didn’t always feel welcomed by Lisbon’s street artists, but that doesn’t mean we can’t appreciate their perspective.
