Graffiti in Puerto Rico

Puerto Rico’s street art scene

I think that few people really ever enjoy the street art scene in Puerto Rico. San Juan in of itself, has some great works by some very renown artists. One of the things that I noticed a lot was there are many works that are attempting to beautify areas of the city that are otherwise run down. Some of them happened to be really political, while others, were just artistic in nature. The reason that few people, tourists at least, will never see these is because of where they are located. Many of them are spread out around the city in areas little visited by outsiders.

There is at least one movement that I know of that was attempting to beautify the city of San Juan, particularly the Santurce neighborhood. The movement is called Santurce es Ley. They have been running a series of projects where big name artists will come in to paint murals. You can check them out here. Not all of the works below are associated with this movement, but several of them are. Within the pictures below, some of the artists I found were Zio Ziegler and Santurce’s own Juan Salgado. If you know any of the artists below, then please feel free to tag them. There are surely tons more works of graffiti in Puerto Rico, but these are the ones that I saw.

Have you seen the San Francisco Mission District or street art in Montreal?

I will post below here just about all the pieces that I have photos of from Puerto Rico. I will make some commentary on them as I go. Be sure to comment on which are your favorites.

One of the first really political pieces that I saw in Puerto Rico. This one is of ‘Latino America’. You can see several figures within the painting as well as some cartoons.

Although it is quite morbid, this simple drawing to me depicts a Taíno native who has been killed by the Spanish conquest. The Taínos were the native Americans who ruled the island before the arrival of the Spanish and other European powers. Out of his chest grows a common Puerto Rican plant with his heart budding as the flower. To me it says his heart is in the land. On his knee you can see a common bird in Puerto Rico and on the leaf of the plant rests the infamous coquí frog.

One of the most famous graffiti works in Puerto Rico mainly due to its location in Old San Juan. It is painted on the wooden doors of an abandoned building.

 

One of my favorite works in the Santurce neighborhood. 

This guy. There are several gnomes around the city painted by the same artist. How many can you find?

A very political piece in Santurce. If you look closely at this one, then you will see many different details. 

The sign for the Coquí frog in the Taíno language.

A famous target on Flamenco Beach on Culebra Island.

A strange and somewhat creepy piece. I am not exactly sure what it is supposed to be, however, it is a good drawing. What do you think?

Sorry about the slight finger block in the picture. I didn’t realize it until now.

Puerto Rican zombie?

Another one of Zio Ziegler’s works.

Another one of my favorites in San Juan. The quote underneath the skull reads in Spanish, “Dejarse vencer por la vida es peor que dejarse vencer por la muerte.” -Juliade Bugos. Look at the details in the painting.

 

This has been a sampling of the best photos of street art and graffiti in Puerto Rico that I have taken. Which one do you like the most? Let me know below.

Stay tuned for more articles on Puerto Rico soon! In the meantime, click HERE to see the others.