Education should not be out of reach. Without it people are captives, especially when technology and resources are kept just beyond your grasp. Bluntly stated, keeping entire populations and countries uneducated plays directly into the hands of those who would manipulate them.

Knowledge is power.

Apolo Torres for #NotACrime in São Paulo, Brazil. (photo © Diego Cagnato)

Street Artist Apolo Torres is an important player in Brazilian contemporary muralism and here he brings São Paulo on board with London, New York, Toronto, Sydney and Cape Town for an initiative called #EducationIsNotACrime.

Begun in 2014 by filmmaker and Newsweek journalist Maziar Bahari, the campaign continues to expand in defense of a universal right to education.

Apolo Torres for #NotACrime in São Paulo, Brazil. (photo © Diego Cagnato)

In these exclusive photos Torres is seen scaling a tower to depict a girl whose reaching for a cloud of books, not quite clamping her small hand around one. Wrapped around her feet is a serpent, representing those who would prefer to keep her ignorant.

A father of two young girls himself, the topic is close to Torres’ home and heart, which is why he is excited about the conversations he will spark by doing this huge mural, which he tells us took more than 200 liters of paint. “It is essential that it dialogues with the place and the people who walk by and see the work. Public artworks have a huge potential to raise relevant issues to society,” he says in a press release.

Apolo Torres for #NotACrime in São Paulo, Brazil. (photo © Diego Cagnato)

Apolo Torres for #NotACrime in São Paulo, Brazil. (photo © Diego Cagnato)

Apolo Torres for #NotACrime in São Paulo, Brazil. (photo © Diego Cagnato)

Apolo Torres for #NotACrime in São Paulo, Brazil. (photo © Diego Cagnato)

Apolo Torres for #NotACrime in São Paulo, Brazil. (photo © Apolo Torres)

Torres’ mural “Education is not a Crime” is produced by Da Terra Productions and was approved by the Urban Landscape Protection Committee (CPPU).

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