Zamoyskiego Warsaw | Converse City Forests

Zamoyskiego Warsaw, Poland

Zamojskiego mural artist painting detail of mural

Panoramic detail view of Zamojskiego mural

The Artist

Beata Śliwińska, who goes by “Barrakuz”, is a visual designer and collage artist that has been living and creating in Warsaw for the last 13 years. Her work centers around equality and unity as a symbol to take us forward into 2021.

Deeply inspired by the recent US election results, Barrakuz believes that “there is a warm breeze blowing from the west and it is such a clear symbol and sign of the changes that are coming for women. She wants her art to convey a sense of unity, and that “there are no differences between us, we are equal.”

Barrakuz adds that, as women, “we like to show that we are strong, independent, smart, that it’s worth choosing us.” She wants society to continue to move towards gender equality, and the first step is self-acceptance and celebration of those differences.

See Beata’s Instagram

The Art

Due to the unusual shape of the building where the mural is painted, Barrakuz had a unique design challenge to solve that ultimately led to a deeper message. “The wall is quite peculiar because it's broken in the middle and that was a design challenge for me, to merge it graphically and visually.”

Despite the design challenges, Barrakuz embraced the nuances of the wall to aid in the message she wanted to tell. “I wanted my wall to correspond with the surroundings,” she explains. “Its shapes and broken middle were ideal to create something about breaking barriers and it was a challenge that I wanted to solve in an interesting way.”

From the symbolism of the hands coming together as a gesture of connection, Barrakuz wants the viewer to recognize a “symbol of unity and that there are no differences between us – we are equal”.

Two shot view from a distance of the Zamojskiego mural

150

Trees and counting.

Local Impact

Through her impactful piece on breaking down barriers, Barrakuz’s mural planted the equivalent of 150 trees, showing the power of art as a catalyst for change. Converse believes it has an opportunity to renew its impact by creating fresh air in its communities through Converse City Forests.

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