Grassroots_Project

This wall is part of grassroots project by Guido van Helton, Stefan Oli and filmmaker Ari Rannveigarson to paint and document the placement of street art in Greenland, a community previously untouched by the Art form on this scale. ‘Poo?ojorteq’ the hunter was painted from a photograph of him in the remote East Greenland settlement of Ammassalik in 1906. This wall was painted on Blok 5 of the controversial housing Bloks in Nuuk, built in the 1950’s in an attempt by the Danish government to rapidly modernise Greenlandic society and its Inuit population. Through the closing down of social services in the remote settlements a proud hunter gathering society was essentially forcibly moved into these urban Blok’s to work industrial jobs in the city. This rapid change from traditional cultural practices over 1 generation resulted in high rates of suicide, alcoholism, murder and many other social problems. Many of the Bloks are now in so far need of repair with problems with mould and poisonous building materials. The painting of these walls although just a face value seemed to re-raise what seemed like an endless discussion on the living conditions and maintenance of these houses. See more after the jump..

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