Community mural painting

The method of mural painting (community wall painting) is a form of community art common in Central and Southern America. It expresses the situation and problems of the community first verbally, then – more and more – by means of symbols that can be drawn and depicted in pictures, while – finally – the members of the community visualise and summarise their message in the form of a large, common mural painting.

 

The essence of the method is common thinking and common creation with full involvement of the group members. Painting does not require previous education in arts, because large-size visual images eliminate those deficiencies that would be eye-catching in case of detailed works of art that people learn at school. This way, preparation of the mural painting is an experience for each participant.

 

Advantages of the method:

 

• can be applied to any age group;
• it is free from discrimination: it works well with people of any culture, nationality, way of thinking and social background;
• it develops important individual skills and competencies;
• it develops group-level competencies – it is a community development method;
• the participants can express themselves with artistic means and verbal expression can be excluded;
• common creation is lasting, quasi imperishable, can be shown to the general public and gives incomparable experience to the group and the creators;

it can be applied in every area of youth profession and can be included easily into supporting, educational and pedagogical activities.^[1]

References:

[1] Katona Krisztina (2008): A muralpainting módszer. Budapest: Közösségfejlesztők Egyesülete, Parola 3.sz.

This article based on the following document: Esélyegyenlőségi módszertani útmutató