Introduction

How do popular communities self-represent and engage in resistance against unfavourable situations? This chapter explores the relationship between visual artistic experiences of popular sectors, their disputes in and about the community and the possibilities of activating imaginaries of community resistance. In so doing, it draws on two experiences: the political muralism of the población (shantytown) La Victoria in Santiago de Chile, an emblematic neighbourhood known for its organised takeover of land (1957) and for its resistance against the Chilean dictatorship (1973–89); and the murals and graffiti produced by the inhabitants of the Favela Santa Marta, the shantytown-laboratory of the pacification process (2008) that preceded the sports mega-events in Rio de Janeiro. In the case of La Victoria, muralism has made the memory of the neighbourhood graphic, generating a dialogue between two historical experiences of community: the land occupation and the dictatorship. It has generated a discourse that, having emerged from the popular, continues to confront the mechanisms of forgetting that have been and are circulated by the official ‘truth’ imposed by the compromised democratic transition. In the case of Santa Marta, the walls express multiple layers of representation, which can be seen as a synthesis of the disputes and the changes that have occurred in the favela during the last decade. So, the walls can be regarded as reflecting different groups’ ongoing disputes about the territorial dominance (by market initiatives, military police orderings or criminal groups’ activities) that surrounds the production of sensations of economic (in)security and that enables different economic exchanges from and within the favela.

This chapter is divided into two parts, one for each case study, and in each part a brief history of the neighbourhood is presented. These case studies highlight how both neighbourhoods are exemplars in terms of their paths of struggle, and in terms of being epicentres for popular occupation strategies that have been fundamental for the configuration of both cities. Each case demonstrates how the neighbourhood's trajectory/path relates to the creation of a popular aesthetic that, via its presence on local walls, allows these communities to express resistance to, and disputes about, the threats faced in their environments.