Art transforms communities. This mural collective brings an alternative vision after the tragic accident at Lima’s popular lookout point.
Earlier this month, a bus carrying tourists to the popular lookout point of Cerro San Cristobal in Lima tipped over in a tragic accident that killed 10 people. The accident has been reported to have occurred due to illegal modifications made by the company to the bus, speeding, and municipal neglect in ensuring safe roads.
These bus companies are mostly the same.
They pack as many tourists in as possible, honk their horns, damage infrastructure and the sides of houses, and have the gall to charge more for sitting on the highly unsafe “panoramic” open roof.
A recent report by America Noticias talks about all this and more, but here in Peru we have already seen enough morbid images and reporting on the incident.
Instead, we want to show you what one collective is doing about it.
The collective is called Color Energia. They specialize in murals and are “dedicated to art and its energetic power of change”. They are putting this philosophy into practice in wake of the tragic accident on Cerro San Cristobal.
Their idea is simple; to change the stigma of the neighborhood from dangerous and delinquent into color and community.
They are painting a “walking route” of murals so that tourists may have an alternative, safer, and healthier route to the highest lookout point in the city of Lima.
Whether their idea receives municipal support or not remains to be seen. Amid the negativity and everyone trying to place the blame for the accident on someone else, it is refreshing enough to see someone spreading positive energy.
The people of the community of San Cristobal interviewed in the America Noticias report make it clear that the majority of those who live there have not benefited in any way from the tourism business. To the contrary, the bus companies take all the winnings while disrupting and damaging their homes and infrastructure.
