Arcadia Italy

Last weekend, both Saturday and Sunday, our Student Life team spent several hours with the notorious graffiti writer, MauPal. MauPal's work has been reviewed and displayed widely both in Rome and in the rest of Europe. As with every semester, the first day of this popular CLC workshop was spent touring some of Rome's most spectacular street art on a carefully planned bike tour, organized in collaboration with Gazebike and MURo. During this time, as the group gets to know the artist and hear about what spurs each piece and the various techniques to these "legal" walls, they begin brainstorming around a given theme. This year's theme is in line with our Life of the Mind series theme, Gender Equality, as per the UN's "goal 5".

Participating this semester were Bridget, Ethan, Hope, Ethan, Kathleen, Malachi, Stephanie and even Sarra Chadi's son, Sami whose artistic talents were put to good use!

On Sunday the group met MauPal, this time with materials in tow and they began their very own mural, currently standing in Quadraro District.

Graffiti in Rome is one of the first things people notice when they come into town. We are the first to admit that there is an abyss between some of the writing one finds all over town and the Street Art also readily found. Romans have a long history with writing on walls, the messages are always the same: love, society&politics or sport. The graffiti CLC is a fun way to explore this side of Rome while debunking what preconceived notions one may have regarding this new art form. The walls used for our students' art have all been approved by the city zoning; many areas are actually commissioning street art to brighten up their neighbourhoods and make them more enticing to visitors and residents alike. This coming semester, our 6th at our current address, the Graffiti group will be repainting our office shutters. I really look forward to seeing their work everyday as we open and close the office.