It’s almost impossible to not notice the proliferation of GO VEGAN street art around Belgrade. The cute and colorful characters and the simple slogans are brilliant. I’m NO VEGAN, and I’m not planning to GO VEGAN, but I do appreciate a movement and I love street art.
Friend, Not Bacon.
Friend, Not Omelette.
We Are Not Food.
My Tits, My Milk.
I’m not sure who is behind this campaign. Couldn’t find much info online about it. But, kudos to the artists that came up with it! Once you see them, you can’t un-see them. They’re everywhere!
Belgrade is certainly not the only city to see Vegan street art. Here is a Tumblr dedicated to Vegan street art around the world.
I found this interesting article about someone who painted VEGAN over a McDonald’s mural in Huntington Beach, California. This is NOT cool. Don’t paint over a beautiful mural. Make your art on a random wall. But don’t paint over someone else’s piece, even if it is a Mickey-D’s mural.
In my opinion, graffiti is a beautiful thing. I’ve seen some amazing street art around the world on this trip! Each city has its own style. Belgrade has some phenomenal artists, like this one who does these black and white portraits of important political and historical figures. This piece is quite controversial. It features Bosnian Serb anarchist, Gavrilo Princip, who assassinated the Archduke Franz Ferdinand and essentially started WWI.
Buenos Aires has the most impressive collection so far (Read my previous post about it) I love cities like BA, and Venice CA, where street art is not only accepted, but celebrated and encouraged. It can turn a decaying city into a colorful, tropical concrete jungle.
Street art is a powerful medium that can be a catalyst for social movements.
I’m sure we will see some politically motivated street art emerge over the next few years in the U.S.
Curious to see what people come up with…