Magic Bus ©2009 by Lisa Kahn

BUENOS AIRES GRAFFITI—BUT IS IT ART?
©Lisa Kahn, 2009

Thinking man's graffiti. ©2009 by Lisa Kahn

My teenage son and I recently journeyed to Buenos Aires to visit his older brother, who has been studying and partying there (not necessarily in that order) for the last several months.

I’m sure I’m not the first tourist to have observed that this proud, sprawling, crowded city reminds me of a dowager who has suffered a reversal of fortune—while she’s worn down and frayed around the edges, she’s still feisty enough to let us know she’s pretty pissed.

Argentina isn’t a particularly ancient country, but it has a long legacy of dictatorships, government-approved murders, kidnapped children, economic collapse, and just plain bad luck.

Obviously the porteños (slang for BA born-and-bred) are entitled to blow off a little steam. This up-yours defiance is especially evident in the graffiti—I mean street art—that is nearly ubiquitous: on swanky apartment buildings, marble monuments, subway-station walls, nightclub entrances—even the government edifices where Evita once reigned.

Buenos Aires street art. ©2009 by Lisa Kahn

Although these urban masterworks are lively and colorful, their appearance—everywhere—is a little bewildering. So I did a little research when I got home, and I learned that the whole craze began almost a decade ago in the neighborhood around the University of Buenos Aires. Since then it seems that anyone with an urgent need to make a political statement—or just a really neat picture, has grabbed a can of spray paint and added his or her two centavos. And you know what? I don’t think anyone plans to stop them.

- Lisa Kahn

View a sample of the photo collection: BUENOS AIRES STREET GRAFFITTI