Soon after we arrived in Panamá City — way back in November — I did a blog about the skyscrapers and architecture of the city. Then a friend suggested I create a blog about the city’s street art. For the next few months, I collected a variety of art from around the city, from tiny words on benches and trashcans to elaborate, colorful designs. A remarkable number are in English. (Technically, a third of the country can speak English, but we haven’t really found that to be the case.)
Captions are below the photos, and, for these times of quarantine and distancing, there’s a sweet message at the end.
Without further ado, here is a sampling of street art from Panamá City, Panamá.
My favorite, which was on the main street close to one of our apartments.
By far the two most powerful pieces we saw. These are on walls along the highway leading to the Bridge of the Americas, a bridge over the Panama Canal on the Pan-American Highway that connects Alaska to the southern tip of South America (except for the Darien Gap of Panamá).
This dude was actually in several places and in a variety of colors, but for some reason, this is the only photo I got of him.
Walls around the neighborhoods where we hung out.
Some things I know my son will like.
Similar styles but kilometers apart from each other.Next to the Waldorf Astoria. The blue with the red swirls is new, painted a few weeks after we moved in.
These seemed very American.
Political or just for fun?
Many utility boxes look like this.
Art in the old city of Casco Viejo, where the four photos above were taken, is designed to look like street art.
Powerful images around El Chorillo, one of the poorest neighborhoods in Panama City. Note the barbed wire on the left. The painting on the right commemorates the U.S. invasion of Panama, which devastated the El Chorillo neighborhood, leaving 20,000 people homeless.The wall surrounding El Chorillo doesn’t make it look so bad. (The boxer, Roberto Duran, is from this neighborhood, by the way, and they are proud of their favorite son.)
A bus stop on one of Tiki’s favorite afternoon walking routes.
Rather random.“Better than yesterday.”
1 thought on “From Politics to Play: Street Art of Panamá City”
very interesting art!