Doctor with Wings, pulls out a line of famous superheroes. This was the analogy that artist Edni Aria, from Imperatriz, the second largest city in Maranhão, used on a mural to honor the health professionals still fighting on the front lines of the pandemic.
“I always wanted to pay tribute to the health professionals, since last year, but I haven’t found a good place to do it. I wanted to do it beside Socorao or Bernardo Saio emergency care unit, but I didn’t think so. In Jardim Sao Luis neighborhood, I asked permission from the owner of the wall. Soon it was authorized because it was only used for graffiti. The owner liked the idea and now he wants to make others. I still want to commend the professionals, just at the center, for doing something very impactful, ”said Edenie Arya.
The pictorial concept comes as a way to symbolize the performance of these professionals as guardian angels for the entire population. “The initial idea was to create the Justice League and when I did, I wanted to send the message that health professionals are champions too, and I had the idea of bringing the two together, all on the same wall,” artist.
In Imperatriz, Edney is also famous for its other murals. Chavez’s collection, painted on the wall of the headquarters of the Children and Adolescents Foundation in Impratriz (FONAC), was the first mural he made in the city, although he had been dedicated to art for more than two decades. Another great desire of the artist is to leave his mark and transform many neighborhoods of the city with painting.
“I started painting working on my own in 1995, I was 14 years old and since then I have never stopped. But the mural is only three years old, and I am doing it myself. I really wanted to be able to do my work in every neighborhood, leave a message on the murals, etc. I still intend to do that, ”the artist said.
Artist Changing Scene in Imperatriz (MA) – Photo: Personal Archive
Honoring health professionals in a mural that blends urban art, technology, and hope for better days – Photo: Disclosure / Maranhão Government
It was seven days of intense work and the great team that was directly involved in the ambitious artistic project that turned the stairs of the Social Center for Public Officials in Maranhão (Ipem), in Avenida Litorania, into a beautiful mural in honor of the health professionals, who have been there for nearly a year. They are fighting a daily battle against the Covid-19 epidemic. The art in question was signed by visual artist Gil Leros, already known to the Maranhão audience to recreate Beco do Silva with graffiti art in the historic center of São Luis.
The 3D mural depicts images of a medical team praying and other health professionals, as well as a white dove in reference to peace, outlined in the middle of the stylized heart that is already a hallmark of Leros’ work. He and his team used as reference moments masterfully captured by SES photographer, Julian Galvão, who pursued the hard work of doctors, nurses and technicians in the midst of the virus outbreak.
“Writer. Analyst. Avid travel maven. Devoted twitter guru. Unapologetic pop culture expert. General zombie enthusiast.”