‘Crows’ by Alain Welter in in Lisbon, Portugal

May 31, 2022

By Vidar

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Street Artist Alain Welter (MOPE)

“CORVUS” (crows) by Alain Welter in in Lisbon, Portugal for Galeria de Arte Urbana and KULTURFABRIK ASBL.

Alain Welter: In order to create a connection between Portugal and Luxembourg, I didn’t want to work with classic or obvious symbols, but rather focus on a personal connection. Since humanized animals usually appear as protagonists in my murals, I chose a crow as the central motif. There are not only two crows on the emblem of Lisbon, but also on the emblem of my home village Koler. So the crow has a very personal value for me and also creates a direct connection between the two places. Interestingly, in 2018, during my Make “Koler Kooler” project, where I turned my village into an urban art museum, I dedicated a wall to our emblem, depicting three crows. This wall was recently demolished and consequently a beautiful and sensible idea arises that this wall will be “built up” in Portugal.

By focusing on just one crow, symbolizing Lisbon and Koler, I chose the colour blue for my main character, which is inspired by the traditional painted tin-glazed ceramic tiles Azulejos constituting a major aspect of Portuguese architecture to this day and thus putting the motive into its surrounding environment.

Additionally, the crow is holding a pasteis de nata, a typical Portuguese egg pastry in one hand, and a rope that runs through the whole picture with the other hand. Either way, this rope can indicate the maritime aspect of the city or one can also suggest the tram ropes that run through Lisbon. Above all, however, the rope is intended on a metaphorical level as a cultural interaction that we all pull together.