Project Puraw (White)

By Virginia Jasmin Pasalo

 

FOR some countries, the painting of houses in depressed neighborhoods aimed to reduce violence among young people. This was how Mexico envisioned it. This was also how it was conceived by others in Brazil, Rio de Janeiro and Philadelphia.

With this objective in mind, Mexican authorities invited a local street art collective “to create what they claim is the country’s largest mural.” The German Crew collective painted the mural in a depressed neighborhood in Palmitas, Pachura, painting over 209 houses covering some 20,000 square meters using approximately 20,000 litres of paint to create the impressive piece called “El Macro Mural Barrio de Palmitas”.

This project transformed and inspired young people in the area to use art as a means of self-expression and helped them avoid bad decisions and nefarious activities that normally plague poor neighborhoods. Since then, the graffiti collective had finished another mural featuring an “Aztec motif on a wall outside Mexico city’s flower market”.

In the Philippines, the painting of houses into a colorful mural has a different objective. The project is being undertaken in Balili, La Trinidad, Benguet in line with the Department of Tourism’s (DOT) REV-BLOOM project which seeks to promote sustainability in existing and potential tourism areas, “to welcome tourists”, by painting a mural over “a mountain of houses, considered to be an eyesore”. The Tam-awan village artists painted some 150 houses covering over 18,000 square meters using materials donated by paint companies. Volunteers composed of students and members of the police assisted in the completion of the project. The area is now popularly called, “Valley of “Colors”, an adaptation of the favela paintings in Brazil.

The DOT is also planning to replicate the project in Quirino Hill (a.k.a. Carabao Mountain) transforming the mountain of houses into “a mosaic of white and green colors in coordination with concerned communities, local artists and Boysen paints” to “re-dedicate its mountains to flowers and trees as part of sustainable tourism activities.” Known as the “Project Puraw (White)”, Baguio City Mayor Mauricio Domogan intimated that “the proposed endeavor entails the painting of the roofs and walls of thousands of houses in the area that encompasses four barangays” and that the color white was chosen to “help mitigate climate change as these will not absorb sunlight but reflect it back to the atmosphere”.

While the DOT implements its own projects, a parallel effort must be undertaken by the LGU to address core concerns beyond the painted facade: the drainage system, public mobility, environmental ecosystems, safety and other considerations that make a community sustain itself in the long run. Clearly, this is the job of the local government, to come up with a comprehensive urban planning and management system in preparation of the increasing population and the influx of commercial and tourism investments in the city.

Baguio City is gifted with environmentally-aware citizens and capable professionals who can come up with viable options to make living spaces in harmony with Baguio’s natural resources. Architect Jun Palafox has repeatedly proven that this can be done with political will and the participation of civil society.

Looking at the drawing of the Project Puraw, my heart is gripped with overwhelming sadness, that the mountain of pine trees whose green I used to rest my eyes on, is going to be transformed into a haunting white cemetery with an illusion of one huge tree buried under a heap of white tombstones.

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