Every artist destined to impact society does so through radical authenticity — an ongoing conversation with the unique passions driving their work. Argentinian artist Tamara Djurovic, known around the world as Hyuro, painted gorgeous murals that were fruits borne of a rich inner life. Her work, synchronously thoughtful and dynamic, gained fervent traction for its beauty and depth.
Loss rocked the global art community last month when Hyuro passed away peacefully in her home after a long battle with illness. She was a mainstay at international mural festivals, and worked across a spectrum spanning walls and canvases and animations and sometimes even alleyways. Her legacy lives on in her physical creations. Where they wane, it continues to thrive throughout the effects this work subtly imprints on all who regard it.
This panoramic mural pictures frames from a 2011 animation by the artist titled ‘Layers.’ In the clip, a woman cycles seamlessly through donning and disrobing a black dress, the action depicted chronologically here. As each succession concludes and the dress slips off, it transforms into a black pup that pats away. ‘Layers’ emulates core attributes of Hyuro’s style — both paint and pixel portray movement masked as quietude. A 2012 article by NY Daily News covered the controversy this work’s nudity sparked in its southeast Atlanta locale. Like this, the art became more than the mural alone. It became a dialogue, an event.
Hyuro’s style also masters making declarations at a muted pitch without sacrificing impact.
Beyond her large-scale work conjuring breathtaking murals, smaller works like this embody the true spirit of street art: quick and smart for viewer and creator alike. Succinct, this piece manages a statement that’s hard to pin down. There’s multiple angles for interpretation at play, predominantly centered around this paradox of a raft that’s also the ocean itself. As Hyuro’s style evolved, it remained quietly diligent in its allegiance to this principled ability to pack a plain statement with punch, to wield the tension between these two elements with purpose.
A large portion of that statements made by Hyuro’s paintings raised their voice in the name of women. The artist’s own statement for this absolutely striking mural explicitly outlines its inspiration:
“Abortion is completely forbidden in five countries in the world, four of them are in Latin America. Abortion is illegal in Brazil, it is a topic that is not usually spoken, yet it is the fourth cause of death for women. It is estimated that a Brazilian woman dies every two days victim of illegal abortion. One million abortions are performed annually. Since 1940 the Penal Brazilian Code established that abortions are illegal in Brazil.
l except in two cases: If the pregnancy seriously endangers woman’s life or if is a rape’s consequence. Currently this last one is facing resistance from the evangelical community, as they consider it as a way to claim abortion. This wall questions the use of female body as an usurped territory by the state and its laws interference on a private matter that should be accepted as such and not penalized, turning it in a political debate subject in which women lose all rights and vote on their own body. It talks about the lack of respect for women who are considered irresponsible and incapable of making decisions based on their own moral values according to their specific circumstances.”
The nuanced tone of Hyuro’s work betrays her pensive intelligence, a force with roots extending deeper than their visual manifestation. Her website explains the local history that inspired this cheerful sherbet facade in Italy. “Lioni was one of the towns worst affected by the Irpinia earthquake of November 23th of 1980. Almost the entire housing stock resulted destroyed or severely damaged. The city was awarded with the Gold Medal for Civil Merit for the demonstrated ability to assess housing reconstruction capacity. This Wall is painted in one of the houses that remained standing.” Cradled by a woman whose nightgown calls a maternal nature to mind, the artist draws a palpable connection between resilience and femininity.
Hyuro is perhaps best well-known for the material subject matter depicted here — her many dresses have draped walls around the world, couture in their own right for their pattern work and soft, languid folds. Much of Hyuro’s work advocated for the advancement of women, but not in a necessarily domineering manner. Instead, the feminism throughout her work seemed to seek a greater balance in the world, forged by an appreciation for feminine energy. That energy harmonizes here with commerce and industry, two areas more frequently associated with masculinity. “
This center image represents times before and after the development of the steel industry. The figures around it, means union, speaking for the multicultural society,” her website explains. Its even composition further fosters an air of harmony. Each individual element in the mural, including the central figure split into two, finds its counterpart in some symmetrical way.
Over the eleven years Hyuro spent traveling the world, practicing her passion, and exploring her path, viewers witnessed her potential flower, face to the sun. Hyuro’s artistic development on the greater scale testifies to how much heart she’s instilled in her work. Its softness parallels its perpetual femininity, asserting that there’s a place for sensitive sensations — sentimentality, nostalgia, beauty, resilience. The artist herself cites that in this mural, “The image was inspired by a toy store that was placed ten years ago in this same place before the actual building was constructed.” Hyuro found curiosity in everything, maybe noticing the shared echoes that resonate through this world for anyone who takes time to listen. Her magic lies in the freeze-frame, the in-between moments, intimate peeks picked from time.
Rest In Peace Hyuro!
