Street art in Iceland

Hello Iceland. It's like give a krona, take a

 krona

When I said, "Hey, I'm going to Iceland," the rest of that thought didn't include,". . . to see the amazing graffiti and to analyze it for political commentary."

It probably should have.

I think that the thing that surprised me the most was the absolute insane amount of street art plastered about Reykjavik (and even Akureyri). Basically every city and town you travel to has at least a bit of street art gracing it's buildings, walls, streets. If it's paintable, it's probably been turned into art.

Actually, the project we were working on with Worldwide Friends (Veraldivinir) turned out to be a "Street Art Haven". A formerly barren plot of land behind a home which used to serve as the base of operations for the Hell's Angels. After it is renovated it will be a gathering point for art and culture in Reykjavik.

Yeah, that used to be a sewage pipe. Then it was taken out by an Icelander with a backhoe. Many a nose hair cried that day.

It's housed on the same block as Coco Reykjavik, a shop which sells goods produced by volunteers in Iceland and the residents of Tierra Bomba, Columbia. All of the money raised goes to support Veraldivinir and it's goal of providing the residents of Iceland with a central point to engage in active service domestically as well as supporting their ongoing project in Columbia.

The depth and breadth of street art was amazing. The story goes, after the economic collapse of 2005, the government stopped paying to clear "graffiti" from buildings. Instead, the government of Iceland decided that the best way to accommodate the growing art scene was to embrace it, if not with a bit of hesitation. Hence, we get amazing buildings like this one.

If you ever get a chance, and you love urban and street art, you need to take a plane to Iceland. You won't regret it.