Street Art in Barranco, Lima
Street art pops out from the walls of the Barranco district in Lima, Peru and it's a big giveaway that you've arrived in the city's creative neighbourhood.
Bohemian Barranco is home to many of Lima's artists, photographers and musicians. MATE, the gallery of the Peruvian fashion and portrait photographer Mario Testino, lives and works in this artistic neighbourhood.
Museo de Arte Contemporáneo de Lima (MAC), the Contemporary Art Museum, which specialises in modern and contemporary Peruvian art is also in Barranco. Lima is one of the best South American cities for street art and the colourful murals totally enthralled and captured my imagination.
Barranco Murals
Limeno Yandy Graffer (real name Abraham Portocarrero) is the street artist behind the mural above. The flowing swirls, vibrant colours and black outlines makes this one of my favourite walls. Graffer paints murals with themes of the sea and fishermen because they reflect the city's culture and trades.
Jade Rivera
“The Home Of Sigh” (above) by Jade Rivera is by the Bridge Of Sighs, one of the main sights in the Barranco. The mural symbolises the love in the neighbourhood.
Muraliza el Barrio, Lima
Festival "Muraliza el barrio" is a project started by a group of Lima street artists called the Barranquinos Artists Network. In 2015 the new mayor of Lima, Castañeda Lossio, ordered Lima's street art be painted over in bright yellow paint. Yellow just happened to be his political party colour.
Sixty murals were destroyed and so Lima's outraged artist community decided to act. A collective was formed to replace Lima's lost street art and festival "muraliza el barrio" was born. #BorraronUnoPintaremosMil - "they erased one, we will paint a thousand".
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The breed of dog in this mural is a Peruvian dog. It's a hairless breed except for a few facial whiskers and an odd tuft of hair on top of the head. We encountered one during our street art walk and I can confirm that they've got a very unique look about them...
The Barranco, Lima
Barranco is Spanish for ravine which aptly describes the cliff-top area with walkway cut through the rock to the sea. Bajada de los Baños pathway leads down towards the main coast road and beach which runs between Miraflores and Chorrillos. You'll find a lot of murals and street art in this area.
The famous Peruvian artist Victor Delfin lives in Barranco, Lima. We stayed at the house where he has his studio. Second Home B&B is packed with Delfin's works and I felt the mural from the breakfast room (below) deserves a spot in this post! It's not street art but it's a pretty cool wall.
Some of this street art we saw during our Lima food and culture tour and more when exploring the Barranco later on. There's a Facebook page which showcases more Lima street art. What's your favourite city for street art?
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can you provide the specific location (address). we are visiting Peru next month and your blog is my bible.
The Barranco is a small district - if you head for the bridge you'll see some street art after that just ask a local because it's dotted around the area. There are street art tours which you can take which cover other parts of Lima. Check Tailored Tours for details. Have a fantastic trip!
There's a lot of avant-garde stuff and psychedelia in this selection - love the 'House of Sighs'. As you said, many folk don't stop in Lima, and I was one of them - but only because of logisitics. I'll be sure to check out the street art next time (and there WILL be a next time!!).
This was just one small area of street art in the Barranco. I hear there's a lot more around the city and even a street art tour you can take. Hope it's not too long before your next visit 🙂
Lots of fun, Suze 🙂
Yes, Jo, it was 🙂
I absolutely have a thing for street art and murals, so this is totally up my alley! I love shooting photos with beautiful wall art in the background, so I will definitely save this for when I visit Lima!
Hope you don't have to wait too long before you get to Lima. Check out the street art in the Barranco and also the rest of the city, there's lots of it.
I wouldn't really think of street art and Lima but they have some beauties, so intricate, there are some real talent there and a tour's a great way to uncover it.
It was great to see the street art - some was on the tour and others we found ourselves 🙂
Wow, what a transition for Lima's Barranco neighborhood. It's amazing how this type of art can change the feel of a district. I for one am happy to see this happening all over the world!
Me too Alison, I think it adds a colourful and positive vibe to many neighbourhoods
I love all the street art!! I'm always looking for street art wherever I go. I definitely would love to find all of these when I visit Lima.
These were all in a compact area in the Barranco district of Lima - I believe there are many more in other areas of the city.
I like visiting local graffiti when I am in a new city. I didn't realize there was even such an area in Lima. I will bookmark this post so I can use it as a mini-guide when I visit Lima in May.
Me too - I especially love it if I find it unexpectedly. I'd also recommend a tour with David from Da Taste of Peru - such a good tour.
I love how expressive and positive the street art of Lima is. Really beautiful pieces. Street art really gives a city such character, and Lima seems to be no exception.
There's a lot more street art in Lima - this is just what we discovered in the small Barranco district. I wish we'd had time to explore the rest on a Lima street art tour.
So beautiful! I especially like the cat. Who knew that street art could beautify an area so much?
It's incredible that the mayor wanted all the street art painted over a few years ago. The cat is pretty cool!
I love street art! When we were in Lima it was just a couple hours, so I didn't see any. Putting this on my list for next time. Your first photo is my favorite, but the one with the boy with the bird in his head is pretty amazing, too.
Lima is a city where people tend to fly in and then straight out again. It's definitely worth staying a couple of days, especially for the food!
Wow, Mrs Jones ... what fantastic city art .... I have a very good friend living in Lima, if I had known you were visiting I would have asked you to meet up with her. Nancy, a very nice lady .. *smile - the parrots has to be my favourite and I love the blue door and window frame.
Going to Lodz under the light festival the last weekend in September and they have about 30 famous pieces of street art. Going to be interesting.
I wish I'd known about Nancy before we went - always good to meet up with local people. I like the parrots too - they're a bit softer than the other murals. I shall look forward to your Lodz photos 🙂
Yes, she would have love to meet up with you. The parrots are so beautiful and just as you said, so soft and romantic to murals that at least I'm use too.
That street art is quite incredible - it should be in a gallery! These food tours really are the way to see a city - I need to investigate as they take you to see the hidden gems off the tourist trail
I agree, the street art is fabulous. I love a good food tour - especially if they are run by local people on a small scale rather than big tour companies who herd dozens of people around.