Peruvian Street Artists Entes y Pesimo collaborated with the Alegrarte Festival in Lima, Peru recently to bring color and art to an otherwise barren landscape on the hills of Lima. So much of the current building that spread across the sides of hills in the last two decades has been characterized as a veritable architectural chaos, especially in zones where poorer people live.

Entes y Pesimo really enlivened some of this neighborhood with their recent murals. The bright and cheerful colors of the one-story houses may make these mountains look attractive from a distance, but the daily life is very difficult.

Entes y Pesimo. Lima, Peru outskirts. (photo courtesy © Alegrarte)

“The festival takes place in very economically devastated and crowded areas where many are eager to leave,” says Entes, “For us, it’s purely a way to give a social support; to give color to a very grey area outside of town.”

Entes y Pesimo. Lima, Peru outskirts. (photo courtesy © Alegrarte)

Pesimo talks about the people who live here and why they participated, “These people represent the engine of our capital – that’s why we fully engaged ourselves in the project.  We were only interested in giving color and joy to the families who traverse these hills every day.”

While the colors are bright, thematically the images depict a people who are submerged in water that comes up to their necks. It doesn’t take a master analyst to infer that Entes y Pesimo are painting their countrymen and women as people awash in a struggle with the perils of very hard economic and social challenges.

Entes y Pesimo. Lima, Peru outskirts. (photo courtesy © Alegrarte)

Entes y Pesimo. Lima, Peru outskirts. (photo courtesy © Entes y Pesimo)

Entes y Pesimo. Lima, Peru outskirts. (photo courtesy © Entes y Pesimo)

Entes y Pesimo. Lima, Peru outskirts. (photo courtesy © Entes y Pesimo)

Entes in Miami 2012. (photo courtesy © Entes y Pesimo)