Children and adolescents sign their graffiti arts in Serra

Twenty-eight children and adolescents from 12 to 16 years old have learned graffiti techniques and created drawings that will be reproduced in two ArcelorMittal Tubarão walls in the municipality of Serra: the wall on São Geraldo community soccer field and the one on the north gate.

The action, called Graffiti project, is conducted by the steel plant. The drawings form the basis for the graffiti artist Handerson Chic to colour 500 sqm of the company’s outside walls. On June 4th (Saturday), at 9 a.m., the kids will start signing their names on the drawings.

The action launched last December is part of the Communities InterAção Program, an ArcelorMittal Tubarão initiative developed to plant the seeds of social transformation and to promote citizenship, equity, diversity, social inclusion and sustainability.

Starting with the Graffiti project, the company aims to promote the leading role of the citizens in their communities making it possible for them to express themselves through their art on the outside walls of the company. “We would like to promote street art democratization, celebrate and value it, and also help to colour and humanize the areas where the project is being carried out”, explained the company Sustainability and Institutional Relations manager, João Bosco Reis da Silva.

The project also aims at co-creating humanized projects that bring positive social impacts jointly built by the company and the community. “This mutual involvement is essential for a synergy to foster the quality of life of the populations in the company surrounding areas”, commented the Communications and Institutional Relations manager, Jennifer Oliva Coronel.

Besides having their graffiti arts reproduced on the walls, the kids - chosen by the leaders of the participating communities, received a graffiti kit and a tablet each, visited ArcelorMittal Tubarão and took part in an in-person workshop with the graffiti artist Handerson Chic. The kids’ drawings are forming the basis for the graffiti to be drawn on the walls.

Participating graffiti artists

Handerson Chic lives in Tabuazeiro, he is 30 years old and studies visual arts. When he was 18 years old he had his first contact with art in the workshops he participated at the Vitória Centre of Reference for the Youth. There he was able to see how much strength and power for social transformation art has. Luhan Gaba, a graffiti artist from Cariacica who has lived in Serra for a long time is also participating in the project. His work can be seen in several walls around the city.