Mexican artist Said Dokins along with the Lapiztola collective collaborated on a mural to tell the story of a popular area in México City ‘La Merced’ with their signature style, mixing stencils, calligraphy and poetry. The mural was curated by WallDialogue2.
About The Mural
Entitled “DEL BARRIO/ MI MERCED“, this piece, created in collaboration between the collective Lapiztola and Said Dokins, is a reflection about the complex identity of the Barrio de La Merced in Mexico City. The group Lapiztola depicts through stencil the face of a girl wearing a typical dress from Oaxaca (in Merced Market, most of the population comes from Oaxaca and Chiapas to sell their products), while Said Dokins inscribes with his personal calligraphy style the words ‘DEL BARRIO’. Inside those capital letters one can read the poem entitled ‘My Merced’ by Natalia Saucedo, a poem she created when she was 12 years old. The poem describes the feelings of the people in the market, victims of the recent changes of the market. La Merced Market is actually the most important place in México City and is currently experiencing a major change due to gentrification.
This mural was painted for the project WallDialogue2 in a parking lot where several vendors from La Merced Market pass through everyday. The intentions of this project were to generate a discussion site focused on the relation between urban art and gentrification processes.
About The Project
The first part of the exhibition series WallDialogue took part in Berlin in 2015, and featured among others the Berlin based artists Johannes Mundinger and BLO. The second edition of the Dialogue will be broadened with the artist couple Billy and Mernywernz from UK, Nelio from France, Pao Delfin, Libre, Said Dokins and Lapiztola from Mexico.
WallDialogue2 targets to feature international urban artists and bring their various forms of expression into a global dialogue and to create a physical space of exchange – this time in the popular neighborhood of La Merced.
About The Artists
Said Dokins lives and works in Mexico City, Mexico. He studied Visual Arts and Philosophy at UNAM (Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico), a background you can easily feel in all his creations. He is a master in what we can call calligraffiti, that is to say a practice combining inscriptions and graffiti. His creations are generally inspired by medieval and Japanese calligraphy. He has put on curatorial projects related to urban arts and a number of political issues happening in his country. His work as an artist has been shown nationally and internationally in countries like Spain, Germany, France, Holland, Belgium, United Kingdom, Argentina, Chile, Brazil, El Salvador, Peru and others.
Lapiztola is a collective composed by the designers Roberto Vega and Rosario Mtz, and architect Yankel Balderas. Taking its name from the Spanish words ‘lapiz’ (pencil) and ‘pistola’ (pistol), the collective was inspired by the events gripping their hometown which led them to create works that highlight and denounce injustices. Mostly working with stencil and serigraphy, they create street art to protest and visually communicate with society, while introducing a personal touch to an urban space.
Said Dokins: web | facebook | instagram
Lapiztola: web | facebook | instagram
