Meet the 2019 VMF Muralists: Medianeras
Written by Melissa Zapiola & Edited by Mackenzie Dorsey

Medianeras is a duo comprised by Vanesa Galdeano and Analí Chanquía. The Argentine artists have garnered worldwide recognition for their public art work, but their Vancouver mural is their first in North America. We got a chance to chat and ask Medianeras a few questions about their mural, and about their experience as artists in Vancouver Mural Festival.

Artists Name: Medianeras
Title of mural: “We usually don’t title our murals. But this time we decided to title it Freedom.

How many people were on your team to help create the mural?
Analí: “It’s been mainly us two working on the mural. We trust one another to create our vision, and its hard put something we obsess over into the hands of other people.”

What was your inspiration behind your mural?
Analí: “Well, we want this person who is coming out of the building to represent the idea of freedom. But in reality you can only see that from one point of view. so if you move, that idea of liberty stops existing because its almost like an illusion, a trick of the eye, the technique we used called anamorphosis. So that was our general idea, for the illusion of the man coming out of the building to only be seen from one point of view.”

 

 

What type of artwork do you create aside from murals?
Vanesa: “In general what we do is murals in public spaces, but what we do is use different styles, so not only paintings, but we also create mosaics. But overall our focus is murals, and we’ve been doing this for 10 years, and we’ve been a duo for the past 5 years.”

 

 

What’s been your favourite spot in Mount Pleasant?
Analí: “We haven’t been able to see much yet, our main focus has been creating the mural. We like to dedicate as much time as possible to working on our murals. But we are planning on staying five more days once we are done and will see as much of the city as we can.

 

 

What was an unexpected challenge or joy in creating your mural?
Analí: “Only joy! It was a great experience. The people here are amazing, so our entire  experience in creating this mural was fantastic. Everyone here was asking us questions and wanted to be involved, overall people are just so open.
Vanesa: We’ve been to festivals all around the world, we know the things we need, and all the logistics that go into making all of this happen, and this festival has been one of the best ones we’ve worked with.

 

 

The MPBIA is ecstatic to have such an amazing mural added to our collection of beautiful public art in the neighbourhood! Check out Medianeras’ other work at:
Facebook: @medianerasmurales
Instagram: @medianerasmurales
Website: https://www.medianeras.com.ar/