Grupo OPNI graffiti and urban violence in present-day Brazil

Abstract

São Paulo is the largest city in Latin America. In addition to its metropolitan and peripheral regions, there are more than 22 million people. All kind of reality is in the 1.520 km2 that extends its territory. From super millionaires who own huge houses of 10/20 million euros with 10.000 m2 of built area, with helipads and Ferraris in the garage, to wooden houses with 20/30 m2, without connection to the light and water network, with open sewage to your door. Nothing more violent and aggressive than this veiled socioeconomic segregation. Often this is observed within a radius of 5 km away, exposing and depicting a glaring inequality. The vast majority of this poor and excluded population is black. In this context, the Brazilian Hip Hop movement emerged in the 1980’s, in the central region of São Paulo, which gave voice to the latent social problems of the metropolis. This is how the São Paulo graffiti, that spans the walls and concrete of the grey city is born, an ideal platform to express social problems and portray the colours and concepts of the new born musical movement. In this context, in 1997, in São Mateus, the far east of the city, the collective of urban art and graffiti Grupo OPNI was born, which remains alive and active, contradicting all unfavourable statistics.