Cristina DeJuan: «This work has been censored. Long live love Long live freedom«
GAYLES.TV.- The fourth edition of Street Art Festival held in Torrefarrera (Segria) has been controversial. The festival has the participation of five artists from Lleida who paint in different spaces of the city. The artist Christina DeJuan He has denounced that neighbors of the building where he painted his mural had complained about its content and had stopped the work.
DeJuan He assures that his art has already been censored other times, but that this is the first time that this has happened to him with the work already started. He began painting the mural Tuesday and, since then, «they have been days of constant struggle»With neighbors from the block who expressed their discomfort with the theme of the mural. «They made an excuse that it was not suitable for children and that they did not understand how we could put this in public space«, Explains the author.
He adds that he gave in to a first act of censorship to cover up two scenes that the neighbors considered explicit sex. At the end of the week, however, the neighbors asked him to cover up the nudity, kisses and caresses of the work, requests to which DeJuan has not agreed. That is why he chose to leave the mural unfinished and paint a last sentence on the wall where it reads «this work has been censored. Long live love Long live freedom«.
Breaking taboos
«I think that he Street art It is not only to draw beautiful things that everyone can like, but to bring to the public space concepts that may be uncomfortable but are necessary to create a dialogue that to this day surprises me that it is still so necessary", has explained. The work that has sparked the controversy is titled Love is love and, in the words of its author, «wants to break the taboos associated with sexuality and give visibility to the different types of love that have always existed and for which we still have to continue fighting for their rights today«.
More than a hundred people demonstrated on Sunday to give their support to DeJuan. The mayor of Torrefarrera, Jordi Latorre, has stated that it assumes «the mistake of not asking for the works to be done before»And recalled that in previous editions a professional jury chose the murals, but that this year they contacted artists from Lleida and they trusted his judgment. Latorre has ensured that the «city council has no vocation for censorship"And has pointed out that it is the community of neighbors that owns the building where the mural was being painted that"does not find it suitable«. The mayor explained that they have offered the artist three other alternative walls in the municipality so that she can capture her mural with the same content.
