At its core, the community mural performs a very important role in unifying a neighborhood by focusing attention and coalescing around a common sentiment. Whether social, political, or poetic, they give a public voice to memories, aspirations, philosophies, agendas.

Collaborative mural in San Salvador with Layqa Nuna Yawar, Mata Ruda, Rafael Osorio, Lolipop, Cristian Lopez and Issac Martinez. ConectArte / United Nation’s World Food Program. (photo © Courtesy of ConectArte)

By highlighting the dominant sentiments about a particular event or topic, community murals in cities and towns also serve as a physical location where people meet in the public context to discuss weighty matters, to share stories, to pass on history, to trade gossip, to organize, to celebrate or mourn individually and collectively.

The United Nation’s World Food Programme worked again this year with a number of Street Artists in San Salvador to create a mural that scrutinizes the nature of a people’s history and the fundamentals of its social, political, economic strengths.

Collaborative mural in San Salvador with Layqa Nuna Yawar, Mata Ruda, Rafael Osorio, Lolipop, Cristian Lopez and Issac Martinez. ConectArte / United Nation’s World Food Program. (photo © Courtesy of ConectArte)

“The mural itself speaks of the market as a place to exchange goods and that creates community and has done so since El Salvador was a country, when it’s people already cultivated the grains and vegetables that continue to be sold at this market today,” says New Jersey based Street Artist and muralist Layqa Nuna Yawar, originally from Ecuador. He painted side by side his homeboy Mata Ruda along with history student Rafael Osorio and local artists Lolipop, Cristian Lopez and Issac Martinez for this mural on the facade of Mercado Cuscatlan, a public market and Library complex.

“The murals also show us traditional culture, dresses, games, poets, geography and flora and fauna that all have local meaning and importance to the people of San Salvador,” LNY says. “The mural on the library side speaks of knowing your history in order to grow and move forward to a better future. It does so by depicting a young woman, one of the local artist’s family members, reading a book on history. In this book the same girl is depicted in traditional colonial garb reading a book on national history, meanwhile her mind is filled with imagery of the cosmos.”

Collaborative mural in San Salvador with Layqa Nuna Yawar, Mata Ruda, Rafael Osorio, Lolipop, Cristian Lopez and Issac Martinez. ConectArte / United Nation’s World Food Program. (photo © Courtesy of ConectArte)

Part of the ConectArte program in cooperation with San Salvador mayor’s office and the United Nation’s World food program, Layqa Nuna Yawar and Street Artist/organizer Jamie Toll say that the collective process that goes into a community mural is necessary to produce a collective narrative. They say they wanted the artists to function as amplifiers for the ideas as well as the aesthetics.

“We spent time developing the design for the mural collectively without having this be a single authored project but a product of actual exchange and conversation with proper credit going to those involved,” says Layqa Nuna Yawar. “This exchange continues as our relationships with these artists grow beyond the project itself.”

Collaborative mural in San Salvador with Layqa Nuna Yawar, Mata Ruda, Rafael Osorio, Lolipop, Cristian Lopez and Issac Martinez. ConectArte / United Nation’s World Food Program. (photo © Courtesy of ConectArte)

Collaborative mural in San Salvador with Layqa Nuna Yawar, Mata Ruda, Rafael Osorio, Lolipop, Cristian Lopez and Issac Martinez. ConectArte / United Nation’s World Food Program. (photo © Courtesy of ConectArte)

Collaborative mural in San Salvador with Layqa Nuna Yawar, Mata Ruda, Rafael Osorio, Lolipop, Cristian Lopez and Issac Martinez. ConectArte / United Nation’s World Food Program. (photo © Courtesy of ConectArte)

Collaborative mural in San Salvador with Layqa Nuna Yawar, Mata Ruda, Rafael Osorio, Lolipop, Cristian Lopez and Issac Martinez. ConectArte / United Nation’s World Food Program. (photo © Courtesy of ConectArte)

Collaborative mural in San Salvador with Layqa Nuna Yawar, Mata Ruda, Rafael Osorio, Lolipop, Cristian Lopez and Issac Martinez. ConectArte / United Nation’s World Food Program. (photo © Courtesy of ConectArte)

Collaborative mural in San Salvador with Layqa Nuna Yawar, Mata Ruda, Rafael Osorio, Lolipop, Cristian Lopez and Issac Martinez. ConectArte / United Nation’s World Food Program. (photo © Courtesy of ConectArte)

Collaborative mural in San Salvador with Layqa Nuna Yawar, Mata Ruda, Rafael Osorio, Lolipop, Cristian Lopez and Issac Martinez. ConectArte / United Nation’s World Food Program. (photo © Courtesy of ConectArte)

Collaborative mural in San Salvador with Layqa Nuna Yawar, Mata Ruda, Rafael Osorio, Lolipop, Cristian Lopez and Issac Martinez. ConectArte / United Nation’s World Food Program. (photo © Courtesy of ConectArte)

Collaborative mural in San Salvador with Layqa Nuna Yawar, Mata Ruda, Rafael Osorio, Lolipop, Cristian Lopez and Issac Martinez. ConectArte / United Nation’s World Food Program. (photo © Courtesy of ConectArte)

Collaborative mural in San Salvador with Layqa Nuna Yawar, Mata Ruda, Rafael Osorio, Lolipop, Cristian Lopez and Issac Martinez. ConectArte / United Nation’s World Food Program. (photo © Courtesy of ConectArte)

Collaborative mural in San Salvador with Layqa Nuna Yawar, Mata Ruda, Rafael Osorio, Lolipop, Cristian Lopez and Issac Martinez. ConectArte / United Nation’s World Food Program. (photo © Courtesy of ConectArte)

Collaborative mural in San Salvador with Layqa Nuna Yawar, Mata Ruda, Rafael Osorio, Lolipop, Cristian Lopez and Issac Martinez. ConectArte / United Nation’s World Food Program. (photo © Courtesy of ConectArte)

Collaborative mural in San Salvador with Layqa Nuna Yawar, Mata Ruda, Rafael Osorio, Lolipop, Cristian Lopez and Issac Martinez. ConectArte / United Nation’s World Food Program. (photo © Courtesy of ConectArte)

Collaborative mural in San Salvador with Layqa Nuna Yawar, Mata Ruda, Rafael Osorio, Lolipop, Cristian Lopez and Issac Martinez. ConectArte / United Nation’s World Food Program. (photo © Courtesy of ConectArte)

Collaborative mural in San Salvador with Layqa Nuna Yawar, Mata Ruda, Rafael Osorio, Lolipop, Cristian Lopez and Issac Martinez. ConectArte / United Nation’s World Food Program. (photo © Courtesy of ConectArte)

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