Bogota Graffiti Tour

This morning instead of opting for the normal city walking tour we joined the graffiti walking tour! Although when I say joined... we ended up being the only people on the tour but that was nice as it meant we could ask lots of questions of our guide!

It was interesting to learn about the culture and history of the city/country through the artwork such as the 2016 peace deal between the government and the guerilla group FARC, and the consequences on the people of this deal. Other artwork related to the indigenous population, underrepresented minorities and the booming emerald trade in Colombia.

The Bogota council sponsor thousands of new pieces of artwork each year and graffiti, whilst being illegal has been decriminalised.

This was sparked by two events. Firstly in 2011, a police officer in Bogota shot and killed a 16 year old for fleeing the scene of where he was graffitiing. Then a year later, the police closed off part of the city so that Justin Bieber and his friends could graffiti a tunnel themselves. This discriminatory behaviour sparked riots in Bogota which eventually resulted in the promotion of graffiti across the city.Read more