May 16, 2011 | 12 Comments

Bogota Street Art Photo Essay

It would be hard to talk about Bogotá without mentioning its street art.

Street art styles are as diverse as the city’s residents, ranging from political statements to crew advertisements to aliens, robots, and other expressions of artistic capabilities.

The rain let up this weekend, so I snapped a few shots of some of my favorite murals. The majority were taken along the Transmilenio route around Carrera 50 and the rest in La Candelaria.

street art gallery

in La Candelaria

street art gallery

reminds me of Ecuadorian artist Oswaldo Guayasamín

street art gallery

an octopus tripping on mushrooms

urban street art

Avatar

pictures of Bogota Colombia

70s style

pictures of Bogota Colombia

gangsters

pictures of Bogota Colombia

The food we eat and the water we drink come from the Earth

For more photos, check out my first photo essay of street art in Bogotá and Off Track Planet’s Guide to Colombian Street Art.

What cities have you been to that are renowned for their urban street art?

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  • http://www.lengthytravel.com/ JB

    Ah, Bogotá was my street art nirvana…until I went to Valparaíso, Chile (see http://www.lengthytravel.com/street-art-valparaiso-chile/).

  • http://www.littlecolombiaobservationist.com Steph

     Oh, I love this. I wasn’t in Bogota long enough to get decent street art photos but can’t wait to go back again with my camera. 

    I had a ball in London around the East End taking photos of street art. 

    Do you know the names of any Bogota-based street artists? I interview street artists for a few different websites but have only interviewed one Colombian so far – Stinkfish. I don’t know much about the scene here yet but it’s something I followed with interest when I was living in London. 

    I’ll check out the links at the end of the post… 

  • http://jasminewanders.com Jasmine Stephenson

    Wow awesome photos! Street art fascinates me, I’ll have to hit up Valparaiso entonces :)

  • http://jasminewanders.com Jasmine Stephenson

    Thanks Steph :) Bastardilla has been mentioned in OTP’s article and elsewhere http://www.bastardilla.org/blog/

    I think there are a couple of Banksy copycats but I’m not sure who they really are.

    What sites do you interview street artists for? That sounds like a pretty awesome gig…

  • http://www.anywhere-but-home.com Naomi

    Seeing a city’s street art is one of my favourite parts of travelling. Some of the best street art I’ve seen was in Berlin, San Francisco, and London – but actually, the street art in my new home, Seoul, has really surprised me as well!!

  • http://jasminewanders.com Jasmine Stephenson

    Mine too! I think it says a lot about the city that you can’t see through other mediums. I’d love to see photos of Seoul’s street art, do you have any?

  • http://twitter.com/OstephaniaO Stephania Andrade

     Amazing photos!
    My favorite one is “La comida que come vos, el agua que bebemos, viene de la tierra”
    Completamente hermoso tema escrito en la pared. 

  • Michael

    That’s some great street art, thanks for sharing!  On another note, I was hoping you might  be able to pass along some advice on traveling in Colombia.  My situation is, I fly into Bogotá in a few weeks and a month later got a flight back to the states from Cartagena.  So my game-plan as of now is spend a couple days checking out Bogota, then get a bus down to Cali and hang there for a few days.  From Cali, I figure head north, stopping in Medellin.  After spending sometime in Medellin, I’m thinking about hitting up Santa Marta, and maybe possibly do the Ciudad Perdida trek.  I figure by this time, my month is just about spent up and it’s time to get to Cartagena.  

    So that’s a basic itinerary I’ve established so far.. Any suggestions on spots to check out while doing that route would be greatly appreciated!

    Oh, congrats on the Matador article!  Sounds like quite the adventure!

    Happy travels,
    Michael

  • http://jasminewanders.com Jasmine Stephenson

    Hey Michael,

    Thanks for stopping by :) I would definitely recommend that you check out a few smaller towns on your trip. The cities are great, but the pueblos will show you another side to Colombia life, a life that many from the city long for actually.

    Between Cali and Medellin, you could stop in Salento, which is one of the more popular pueblos in Colombia and check out the Valle de Cocora. If you do stop in the Eje Cafetera, the Termales de Santa Rosa which are natural hot springs and a really beautiful spot: http://jasminewanders.com/2010/09/how-to-get-to-the-termales-de-santa-rosa/.

    There are lots of pueblos in and around Antioquia that are worth a look, like Jardin, Jerico, and Sante Fe de Antioquia.

    Enjoy your trip and let me know if you need anything else :)

  • http://jasminewanders.com Jasmine Stephenson

    Gracias Stephania! Me encanta las mensajes positivas en el graffiti tambien :)

  • Michael

    Thanks for passing along that list of pueblos!  Termales de Santa Rosa looks amazing, and it’s now officially on the list of potential get to spots!  

    Really enjoyed “Why Spanish is cooler than English”. Gave me some heads up on words like “tintico”, that I can add to my “must use list, while in Colombia.” Thanks again!

  • http://jasminewanders.com Jasmine Stephenson

    No worries :)