LOS ANGELES-ISTANBUL STREET ARTIST EXCHANGE
When I visited Istanbul in late 2014 after a four-year absence, I was shocked by the veritable explosion of street art–the result I think of 2013’s “Gezi Park,” when protestors realized walls could be “canvases”. Through an elaborate network of contacts (and luck), I was able to arrange for two Los Angeles muralists to paint in the 2015 Mural Istanbul Festival, an annual event sponsored by the Istanbul district of Kadikoy. Later that summer, two Turkish artists flew to Los Angeles and painted a mural along Pacoima’s “Mural Mile” in LA’s San Fernando Valley.
Painted by Los Angeles artists Kristy Sandoval and Levi Ponce during the 2015 Mural Istanbul Festival, this mural was in Istanbul’s Yeldegirmeni neighborhood until the wall’s recent destruction as part of “urban renewal.”
While LA muralist Kristy Sandoval was in Istanbul for the 2015 Mural Istanbul Festival, I was able to arrange through the American Consulate for her to work with Syrian refugee girls to paint a mural honoring Malala Yousafzai, the courageous Afghani activist for girls’ education.
This mural was painted by Istanbul artists Wicx and Eskryn along the “Mural Mile” in Pacoima, a largely Hispanic city in Los Angeles County’s San Fernando Valley. (Turkish street artists tend to use “street names” rather than their given names.)