The “BRIDGES Hip Hop Contest: Challenging Migration Narratives”, organised in cooperation with Fundación Contorno Urbano and the non-profit organisation Hip Hop Works, aimed to reflect on and contribute to the transformation of dominant, exclusionary narratives on migration through hip hop culture. The contest was part of BRIDGES co-production efforts and it aimed to serve as a platform for dialogue between experts, artists, and the migrant community.
Two hip hop artists were awarded as part of the contest: a rap singer, Fly So High, and a mural artist, Teo Vázquez. Both artists joined the project efforts to create new, more inclusive narratives on migration and integration issues. They developed their artistic work through a participatory process involving the community of the dynamic and diverse neighbourhood of La Florida in L’Hospitalet de Llobregat (Barcelona, Spain). After taking part in this two-week artistic residency, during which they visited different schools and organisations and got to know the neighbourhood and its people, both artists developed an artistic piece.
The large-format mural done by the artist Teo Vázquez portrays a large-scale picture of three young hip hop dancers. The final mural was installed in the wall of a school situated in La Florida, where the residency took place, and portrays three girls from the neighbourhood: Zaira, Naik and Estef.
Zaira, Naik and Estef live in l’Hospitalet de Llobregat, Barcelona, a city known for the diversity of origins of its population. Daughters of migrant parents – Zaira from El Salvador, Naik from the Dominican Republic and Estef from Ecuador – dancing brought them together, and now they dance both professionally and in the street. Teo Vázquez met them during his residency at the neighbourhood of La Florida, and decided that they would be the protagonists of his mural. The photographic mural portrays the three dancers in a wall located in one of the schools in the neighbourhood, and it aims to depict a true story of inclusivity that represents many others.
The rap song created by the singer Fly So High (Andy Palacios), named ‘El Extraño’, focused on the experience of being a migrant in Spain, and the important role that migrants play in the host societies. The song was produced by Kapi One. The videoclip has been produced by Mind Game Films.
Discover the making off of the large-format mural created by Teo Vázquez and the rap song wrote by Fly So High, both winners of the “BRIDGES Hip Hop Contest: Challenging Migration Narratives”:
About the BRIDGES Hip Hop Contest winners
Born in Apartadó, Antioquia, Fly So High is a reputed artist and one of the most prominent in the Colombian underground hip hop scene. He released his first album in 2011 titled Efimeria, a work that was acclaimed by specialised critics and marked a before and after in his career. Since then, he has continued to evolve and experiment with new sounds and styles without losing his essence and social commitment. He has important collaborations with Colombian artists and leads training processes in communities and marginal neighbourhoods in the country using hip hop as a strategy for social transformation.
Teo Vázquez is a photographer who lives and works in Barcelona. Through his projects he addresses topics such as immigration, the underground economy and civic regulations in urban space, with a comic and satirical touch through large-format paste-ups that give prominence to invisibilised people. Through a process that starts from personal relationships and collaborations between model and author, this artist works to produce visual representations of exaggerated and shocking situations.
