Street art revives deeply divided Spanish village

Fanzara, Spain: Fanzara is a small Spanish country village whose handful of mostly elderly residents were once so bitterly divided that their allegiance to one camp or the other determined which bar they frequented.

So heated became the local tussle over plans to build a toxic waste dump that it aroused old Civil War-era rivalry and prompted neighbours to cross the street to avoid one another.

But, today in Fanzara, the bad blood is almost forgotten and the village has been revived — thanks to street artists from around the world. Tourists now flock to admire giant murals created by invited urban artists on the sides of buildings in the village, which has become an open-air art gallery.

For years, residents of Fanzara had been at loggerheads over the waste incinerator proposal. It was defeated in the end and the right-wing municipal council promoting the project was swept from power in 2011 polls.

But locals say tensions remained long after the plan was dropped, with supporters drinking in the village’s “upper bar”, while opponents, who were concerned about the incinerator’s environmental impact, preferred the “lower bar”.

The feud even stoked old divisions between left-and right-wing families dating back to Spain’s bloody 1936-39 Civil War. So in 2014 the village’s new municipal council came up with the idea to invite local residents and street artists to create one giant mural. It turned into a street art festival, with 21 artists descending on Fanzara a few months later who ended up decorating many grey walls encouraged by enthusiastic locals. Some could be seen hoisted on cranes as they painted the walls. Three years later, Fanzara’s annual festival, the Unfinished Museum of Urban Art, has joined the circuit of street art events, including festivals in Copenhagen and New York.