Rome, a huge mural at Corviale: it's the work of Dutch street artist JDL

A huge work of street art to decorate the Serpentone del Corviale, the huge residential complex in Rome’s 11th City Hall, which is almost a kilometer long and has become over the years almost a symbol of the degradation of the capital’s suburbs. The work, however, will help change the image of Corviale: it is a massive 40-meter mural created by Dutch street artist JDL (Judith de Leeuw) on the northeast wall of the apartment building, as part of Street Art for Rights Forum Festival.

Work began last December 15, and after more than a month of work amid frost and rain Corviale is home to one of the city’s largest and most significant works created by JDL with the operational support of street artists Spike, Smok, Marqus, Boogie, Joys and the Street Art For Rights team who made possible another large mural work that adds to the more than 30 created in recent years

JDL is internationally known for her activism in spreading social messages through street art, working on issues such as LGBTQIA+, racism and mental health, telling them on the walls of the world with care and lyricism through her unmistakable stroke. Also for Street Art for Rights Forum Festival, he chose to raise awareness of the current issue of the environment, delving with his work into the self-destructive tendency of modern society that oversteps the boundaries of nature.

’s mural

ural

At the center of the new wall is a reference to the myth of Icarus. Icarus is the one who, heedless of his own limitations, flew too close to the Sun with wax wings and fell into the sea. He is a metaphor for a society blinded by profit that is heading toward self-destruction, aiming to have the most today regardless of the future. In the work JDL depicts two women: one covered in oil plunges into the void, the other struggles, managing to extricate herself and regain her freedom by flying. The woman on the left becomes a symbol of the many birds who find themselves entangled in oil at sea because of man; the one on the left, on the other hand, represents those who make it through, with strength and tenacity. A work that becomes an omen for the future and a symbol of hope for the Corviale neighborhood and for everyone. Moreover, the artist, in the realization of his work, chose not to erase some writings created by the boys of the neighborhood, placed at the base of the large building. A clear signal of keeping alive the connection with the area, without wanting to “distort” the popular soul of Corviale.

JDL’s wall will have a temporary duration of about two years, as the Palazzone is affected by the renovation activities of the PNRR; during this time, however, before it is destroyed, it will be transformed into NFT, so that it can still continue to be visible and live online in the digital world of blockchain. Proceeds from the sale of the work will be donated to various charities working in the same neighborhood.

Corviale, moreover, was also the first Italian stage of Street Art for Rights, which has increasingly established itself in recent years as a reference point for street art in Italy with more than 30 works created in the past years in Rome in the suburbs of Corviale and Settecamini, creating two open-air museums, and in Lazio between Cassino, Fiumicino and Latina. The biggest milestone, however, came this year with the recognition of the European Union under the Creative Europe Program, inaugurating a new three-year cycle of works and initiatives related to street art that will cross Italian borders to reach France, thanks to the association Pick Up Production, and Greece with the association Anazitites Theatrou. The street art festival, conceived and directed by Giuseppe Casa, curated by Oriana Rizzuto for MArteGallery and produced by the Cultural Association ARTmosfera, was born as a special project of the MArteLive Biennial in 2014 and in these 8 years it has developed a shared path on the territory merging together the promotion of important social values through urban art. This path now opens to a European and international dimension that will hold many surprises.

Rome, a huge mural at Corviale: it's the work of Dutch street artist JDL

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