The Community Mural
Project in Chimachoy has taken off! Finally, because the project started well over a
year and a half ago when I first spotted the wall and the itching started… Then
the fundraising (not the easiest part!); the logistics with various community
members; prepping the workshops for the kids; conducting those workshops in
which we picked and discussed the themes; and then sorting through dozens if
not hundreds of the kids’ drawings and pictures in order to finally be able to
make the designs. Oh, and then there was the wall repair and plastering, done
by the parents, as well as having the students translate the names of the
different sub-themes in Maya Kaqchikel. So when the first brushstroke went on
the wall last Thursday, many an hour had already gone into it. But somehow,
painting that first panel made the project so much more real.
Last Thursday, twenty-six high school students learned how to copy a design on a wall by
using a grid. I used an exercise in which they had to copy a small image of a super hero
onto a bigger sheet and as always, this was a big hit. (If you ever need a few
quiet hours with a bunch of adolescents, let them copy super heroes, success
guaranteed!)
We had started the
morning priming the first eight panels of the mural (out of twenty-six). By the
time the kids finished their drawing and the three designated photographers of
the day were done documenting a few more themes, we were ready for drawing
grids on the wall with chalk. This actual work was less exciting than copying a
super hero, but the kids did a good job nonetheless. In the meantime I had
started sketching and there was just enough time before school was out to have
a few students helping me paint.
Clouds gathered soon
after lunch and covered the town of Chimachoy
in a thick mist while the temperature dropped considerably. Twice I had to take
shelter from the rain but I managed to finish the first panel. It had been a
productive 10-hour workday. But still, only one panel done and
twenty-five to go…
On Friday I came back
with reinforcement. I had asked my fiend Jessica Hoult to join me, not just for
fun company, but also because she’s good at painting and amazing with kids.
Just before we left at 6.45am I sent her a message to dress warmly. And a good
thing too. We left a gorgeous sunny Antigua, but the higher we got the mistier. When we
arrived in Chimachoy, visibility was about three meters. Getting out of the car
brought an immediate chill to our bones, despite four layers of clothing. Strange
to be freezing our butts off in a tropical country in July and oh how we wished
we had brought gloves! But how uplifting to see, despite the thick mist,
the colours of that first panel really standing out and smiling our way.
Cold or not, the sixth
graders did show up as promised, even though they officially had the day off. We
quickly put them to work, priming the rest of the wall. The further down the
wall they went, the higher the panels, but a few sawhorses did the trick. Like monkeys
the kids where up and over the wall and in less than two hours the rest of it, all 45 meters long, was primed!
Then the kids went
around town with Jessica to take more pictures expressing the various sub-themes
of the mural, all representing their own culture. In the meantime I started
sketching so afterwards the painting could get started.
Around noon the clouds
started lifting and the freezing cold made way for a fierce sun and an
incredible rise in temperature. Shedding layer after layer and getting
sunburned in the process, the next three panels quickly took shape. We occasionally
got sniffed at by a passing cow, peed at by a curious dog, but otherwise the
afternoon was uneventful and productive, even though we didn’t entirely finish
the last two panels. But at least all the workshops are done with; all the
visual material needed is in the house, so now we can focus on the painting. Next
week we’ll continue!
Thanks so much to all
our sponsors, the kids, the teachers, the friendly guy on a horse who brought us bags of water (yes, water comes in bags around here) and of course the fabulous Jessica Hoult!
