Let’s clean up together – this Saturday in Obelya quarter in Sofia
On September 14th, the day of the campaign for mass cleaning of Bulgaria, Open Space team chose to clean the area in Obelya quarter, in particular the parks and grounds around the walls we usually paint on. Today we will declare our locations and ask for bags and garbage collection after the activity finishes.
We are inviting you to join us – the start is on September 14 (Saturday) at 10:00. After we finish we’ll have a small party at 107 St.
“We did it together” and 3 substations in Obelya quarter with the new look.
Author: Pepa Peneva, Open Space Foundation
“We Did It Together” project is an initiative of a young man who has grown up and is currently living in Obelya neighborhood. After participating in EU Erasmus + project training in planning, Plamen Beshkov planed and step by step began realizing his idea.
Within a month he has been meeting people from the neighborhood, students, the headmaster of the local school and the Mayor of Vrbnitsa district, Mr Mladenov. The existing of vandal-scratched walls, dumping garbage in unauthorized places, indiscriminate posting and posters are similar to many other places in our city. However, Plamen’s idea is not to complain about who does what or has not done, but to invite people from the neighborhood and transform the area into something good together. He believes that a beautiful and colorful urban environment contributes to a more harmonious and inspiring everyday life, creates a positive mood and provokes to making good deeds the same as the broken down and dirty area provokes you to throw away your waste and do not care about the terrain.
Followers of his appeared: officials from the Municipality of Vrabnitsa, the Public Board of Telus International Bulgaria and “In the Dark” accepted the idea and supported it financially – to purchase materials and provide a fee for 3 artists.
The ideas of what to be painted on the walls in the neighborhood were decided after a discussion with the local youth. Our artists worked with the youth for a few days and made the sketches and the wall projects together. We are now being at the drawing stage.
You may have already seen two of the walls: locals have started sharing photos on the social networks and sharing their joy of the transformation. Moreover, comments to raise funds and continue painting on other walls in the area came up, which is wonderful.
Here are the locations:
The intersection of Diko Iliev St and 107 St visible from the yard of 140 Secondary School and the kindergarten.
The substation will be painted on its four walls depicting Ivan Vazov National Theater. We all love theater and acting. The National Theater is one of the symbols of Sofia so when discussing the possible ideas for drawing, we agreed that it was good to start with a significant landmark for Sofia citizens. Not only is the National Theater a very beautiful building but it also has the potential to show, tell, study and provoke a person to do good. We all love well-told stories and the National Theater is a symbol and place where they happen. Let us be not only proud of the beautiful buildings of Sofia but also be inspired by good examples and interesting roles.
The second wall, which is being run simultaneously is at 107 St continuing your journey towards the Underground.
The wall is an installation that invites you to make a selfie of yourself or with a friend following the pattern of taking a photo of yourself with angel wings which started being very popular. Now Sofia will have its wings too and each of you can take a picture and share it on the social networks by tagging with #Sofia#Obelya#Vrabnitza. We hope the walls in Obelya become part of the Sofia Graffiti Tour and will also be visited by the guests of our city. In the wings are inscribed symbols of our culture, history and script.
We have thought about the younger ones, too and a special step will be placed in front of the wall so that it can be used by people of different age and heights.
The third wall which we are starting soon is going to be in the park next to the Culture centre of the neighbourhood. A mural of five horses will create a positive mood of the children and their families who will visit the playground there.
We very much rely on the locals to help us clean up the grounds. There is still rubbish thrown around the walls (although the containers are everywhere and are emptied regularly). We very much look forward the work of the artists and the people who help them to being appreciated by the vandals and they stopped scratching the walls and throwing waste round the areas.
On September 14th, the day of the campaign for mass cleaning of Bulgaria, Open Space team chose to clean the area in Obelya quarter, in particular the parks and grounds around the walls we usually paint on. Today we will declare our locations and ask for bags and garbage collection after the activity finishes.
We rely on the support and understanding of everybody who lives in the area.
With the support of:
С подкрепата на:
