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Tuesday, January 10, 2023 at 11:28

Fine Arts and Vallecas schoolchildren paint a mural for peace

Fine Arts and Vallecas schoolchildren paint a mural for peace Fine Arts and Vallecas schoolchildren paint a mural for peace

Last December, a total of 30 Fine Arts students and 350 schoolchildren from various schools in the Community of Madrid participated in the creation of a mural on peace and encounter

Núria Ripoll

In 1936, Madrid was the object of successive bombardments on the civilian population. The photographs that Robert Capa captured around Peironcely 10, in which he presented the consequences of the practice carried out by the Italian and German air forces, moved the world. For this reason, in view of the current global war escalation and in solidarity with all the victims of current wars and conflicts, Peironcely street has been covered in color with a mural created by schoolchildren and university students entitled 'Peace on the ground', call to the reflection of the population.

In the well-known neighborhood of Vallecas, in the Community of Madrid, remains of the houses that were bombed during the Civil War have been found. After carrying out excavations in the area, several hydraulic tiles with very striking designs of the settlements that existed on that land more than 80 years ago have been found. With the aim of imitating his drawings, the students of Fine Arts from the URJC and from the CEIP Amós Acero, IES Arcipreste de Hita, CEIP Palomeras Bajas and CEIP Javier de Miguel schools have carried out a large 750 m2 mural parallel to the excavations of those settlements.

new vallecas photo

Together with Antonio Anastasio Foundation, who finances and organizes the festival with the collaboration of the URJC, the professors of the university Miguel S. Moñita, Emma García Castellano, Tomás Zarza and the director of the area of ​​culture and documentary center of the Foundation and co-director of the Robert Capa Festival, Jose María Uría Fernández, collaborated in the recovery of the history of the Vallecas neighborhood. “The activity united the students of the university with those of the schools in the area. It was very gratifying to unite the university students with the children of the neighborhood, in this way they will learn what happened in Vallecas many years ago and they will know the history of their neighborhood”. "The children's response was spectacular, there were more than 400 people in total and everyone was able to enjoy the experience," explains Miguel S. Moñita.

“I was impressed by the response from the schools in Vallecas, I did not expect such participation. They were two days of hard work but they were compensated by the incredible creativity of the children. The good organization and the work of all my classmates from the Degree in Fine Arts helped us to be able to adapt the artistic abilities of students of different ages to a common work”, explains Aroa de Miguel, one of the students of the Degree in Fine Arts in Aranjuez. "Without a doubt I encourage the rest of my university colleagues to participate in this type of activity that connects the university with the social reality of our community."2022 12 Peace mural on the ground0067

“We think that art can be used as an agent for the transmission of knowledge, as a tool for children to access their history, in this way they will know what happened in their neighborhood during the Civil War”, declares Miguel S. Moñita.

For her part, Emma García-Castellano, a CUVPAC researcher and co-author of the mural, declared that “being able to develop a work in situ has been very gratifying. The two days of intense work have allowed the view of the students of Fine Arts and the children of Vallecas to be included in the piece”. “It has been wonderful to see how, through a playful and participatory act, the neighborhood is becoming aware of the importance of art as a transforming element. The beauty of a space sows the seed of respect for the common.

The day after the activity, the Fine Arts students went to the place in groups of ten children to explain the motivation behind the mural, the story behind it and why it was so important. “There were more than 400 people in the activity. It has been very important for the students to participate in the social life of these neighbourhoods, to get them out of their comfort zone and get in touch with reality”, concludes Professor Moñita.

2022 12 Peace mural on the ground0001