On Friday, I went on a walking tour to see the murals in the neighborhood of Lavapies with Mimi and Gerardo, both artists themselves. I loved the mural behind them for its playfulness. You can see the reference to Matisse’s dancers in the top mural. Below, the mural is taking a poke at itself: the word “Spectaculum” means a place of entertainment and refers to the way street art can gentrify a neighborhood. So far, Lavapies retains its international not-gentrified character, and is full of immigrants from all over the world with a very strong sense of community.

One of my favorite parts of the tour was learning that Lavapies — translated to “wash feet” — is so named because the area was once the Jewish Quarter. Lavapies refers to the Jewish custom of washing before entering the temple. 🙂