The
Camino de Santiago
is an interior journey in which there is also time to stop and enjoy, among other things, the Romanesque and the Gothic that borders / animates the route. Artistic styles that are now joined by another representative of our days,
urban art
. Thus, its landscape has today become a large
open-air gallery, with more than 140 kilometers
of route, which houses the longest exhibition in the world,
Las estrellas del Camino. Resistance looks
.
It is made up of a series of large murals that accompany pilgrims -on
the
route- during
the last seven stages of the French Way
.
Behind this unique sample is Estrella Galicia, the Galician brewery that in this 2021 -
Xacobeo year
- pays tribute to those people who live around the Camino and who have been keeping the essence of their routes alive for generations.
The portrait of Xermán Arias, in the Triacastela stage.
Life philosophy
"Our goal is to give recognition to all those people full of generosity, with admirable values, who make it possible for
the spirit of the Camino to remain
. We wanted to reflect in a big way their views of resistance, those that vindicate their philosophy of life, way of understanding the world and its hospitality in a different way,
making their stories known
as an example for everyone ", says Santiago Miguélez, Estrella Galicia's Marketing Director.
The exhibition begins in the stage that goes from O Cebreiro to Triacastela, key in the history of the Camino, and continues along the following stages until reaching Santiago de Compostela, passing through
Sarria, Portomarín, Melide, Arzúa and O Pino
.
And, in each one of them, a large-format portrait that merges with nature welcomes the pilgrim.
Mario Mato's mural, in Sarria.
The hands that have painted those people who help the survival of this route are those of the urban artist
Mon Devane
.
Vivid faces of imposing size: "There are murals that measure between
100 and 110 square meters and others, 300
", says Devane, for whom the portrait is his "comfort zone, my strong point, what comes out best for me", adds the Galician.
From the street to photorealism
This man from Orense began in the art of painted letters and styles typical of
graffiti
.
"I started with hip hop culture, rap music, graffiti and I got into that world of putting your name on the walls. It was like that for a few years until I opted for
the more artistic route
of this path," he recalls.
And that path led him to photorealism and to this exhibition, which has had a
long preparation process
.
"At the end of 2019 and the beginning of 2020, we held the first meetings and, with the pandemic, it slowed down. I started the first mural in November,
in Triacastela
, and six days later it was finished."
The artist from Orense during the process of creating the mural by Xosé Luís Carreira, in Portomarín.
The rains and the
filomenas
on duty brought a halt and, finally, the work was resumed in February ... And, stage after stage, portrait after portrait, like an
artistic
pilgrim
, Mon arrived in Santiago, where at the end of March
the last mural
.
Wall as canvas
And how was the process of
undertaking these
large
murals
?
"To work I need a crane. In addition, I am accompanied by a team of painters who first prepare the walls with
fixers and primers
, because since it is in raw brick, the paint cannot be applied directly," details the orensano.
Once
the wall
was turned
into a canvas
so that it would grip the paint well, not lift easily, or consume so much material, Mon went to work.
"I marked the silhouette a bit,
divided the areas into various colors
and my support team was advancing the base, with a very resistant special plastic paint for exteriors, so that later I could
paint over it with spray
.
The portrait of Isidro Pardo, in Melide.
He continues: "All my finishes are sprayed. It is a fairly durable product,
very versatile and a super-fast technique
that adapts very well to small and large formats. After the base, I define the figure with my range of colors, which are they move in an
ambiguous world between green and blue
, which has been the turquoise of a lifetime, "he explains.
Reinforcement to the pilgrim
Proud of his work - "I think that the common thread that we have created between the concept and the treatment of
shapes, colors and characters
is well appreciated
", he says, he hopes that the exhibition will be a reinforcement to help the pilgrim .
The work on Antón Pombo, in Arzúa.
"I do not want to be pretentious, because the objective of the Camino is clear, it is spiritual, but I would be very excited if
that small artistic brand was a reinforcement,
" he says.
"The pilgrim who arrives at O Castelo may see the mural and not know what this is about, although we have put up some milestones that explain that it is an exhibition. But as more stages and more murals go through, perhaps they will
look for the next
portrait and wondering what you will find ... and you may feel like you are reaching the end, "concludes Mon.
The faces and their stories
The pilgrim will not only find murals, but also the people and the stories behind each one of them: a luthier, a beekeeper, a pastry chef ... Seven people who live in each of these stages and who, in addition , "They are a benchmark in their community and
embody the values of the route
", they point out from the brewery firm.
Like
Xermán Arias
(in the Triacastela stage), the luthier who always liked to do things with his hands that would later sound;
Mario Mato
(Sarria), a businessman concerned about the environment and owner of a sustainable rural tourism house;
Xosé Luís Carreira
(Portomarín) and his ecological farm;
Isidro Pardo
(Melide), who not only collects honey, is also in charge of protecting the bees;
Antón Pombo
(Arzúa), writer, journalist and researcher and disseminator of the Camino;
Maruja Varela
(O Pino), a lifetime dedicated to work and gingerbreads, cakes and other sweets and
Laurie Dennett
(Santiago de Compostela), a Canadian writer who one day fell in love with the Camino and stayed on it.
Mon Devane in the process of creating the mural by Maruja Varela, in O Pino.
All the resistance stories of these
Camino Stars
can be found on the Estrella Galicia website.
According to the criteria of The Trust Project
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