Every resident of my neighbourhood likes fancy graffiti in Malyy Avenue V. O. (St. Petersburg, Russia) but not everyone knows its history. This is not Buddha, as many think, and not even the queen of magic mushrooms as I thought.
It turns out the mural was created 31 years ago by American and Russian artists within a Soviet-American project "All for One Earth". The mural's name is "Water is Life" and the main character is Mother Earth. Some sources call it the oldest graffiti in St. Petersburg.
- The address: Gavanskaya Street, 47, St. Petersburg, Russia
- The location on Yandex.Map: https://yandex.ru/maps/-/CCUY4ORFSB
- The authors of the mural: Susan Cervantes, Luis Cervantes, Carlos Loarca, and Nicolai Bogomolov - from here.
The Time of Hopes
It was 1990, the Cold War was practically finished and many hoped for a world of common prosperity and freedom, a world without wars. The joint art project between Russians and Americans was a reflection of those hopes. Former enemies became allies in the united struggle for a better future for Mother Earth.
The style of the mural was heavily influenced by Mexican art since, as the city administration's website states, the American painters were of Hispanic origin and were followers of Diego Rivera, an outstanding Mexican artist and a Communist visited the USSR several times.
There are also Russian details on the painting...
Write in the comments what details seem to be Russian in your opinion. :)
Hey, Baby!
As a bonus, another curious artefact of the time: Russian rock legends and an American person Joanna Stingray (whoever she was) sing together:
Everyone wants to wake up the world
Everybody wants to set it free
You and me together forever
Hey, baby, it’s not always what you see.
Lyrics by Joanna Stingray
Thank you for watching and reading!
About the post
All photos were taken by me.
This #steemexclusive #steemgraffity story has been written for #GRAFFITI OF MY CITY Contest by @slon21veka. The terms of the competition ask participants to summon 3 persons from 3 different countries. My choice is:
@ronthroop from the shores of Lake Ontario, @rasel72 from Bangladesh, @skywaystelios from Greece.
Guys, if you want, you can join the GRAFFITI OF MY CITY contest within Steem-BRU (BY-RU-UA) Community. :) Thank you for visiting my post! :)