Innovation: Lata 65 Graffiti Grannies

Portugal

AAI Domains:

• Independent, healthy and secure living (physical exercise, lifelong learning)

• Participation in society (social connectedness)

As societies age there are many stereotypical views and prejudices about older people that need to be challenged. It is a common perception that older people are unwilling to try new activities or ‘stuck in their ways’ when in fact the opposite is true in many cases. The appreciation and creation of art is not limited to younger people although some forms, such as street art created with spray-paint from aerosol cans, are usually associated with young people and graffiti. Graffiti, however, is a form of artistic expression that stretches back to ancient times.

Lata 65 is a small non-governmental organisation founded by Lara Seixo Rodrigues that is committed to challenging stereotypes on ageing and promoting inter-generational activity through street art. Lata 65 started in the small city of Covilha in central Portugal and the concept of ‘Graffiti Grannies’ was created during a street art festival that celebrated the history of the textile industry in the region when Rodrigues noticed that older people were more interested in the street art than the younger people with which it is often associated.

Rodrigues, with fellow street artist Adriao Resende, developed the idea of running an art for all workshop on street art that would be aimed at older people. After initially running the two-day workshop in Corvilha in 2011, the project really took off when Rodrigues successfully applied for funding through Lisbon City Council’s Participatory Budgeting scheme.

This funding enabled a number of workshops for older people to be run in Lisbon with the first day consisting of sessions on the history and cultural position of street art, graffiti and murals along with preparing stencils for the practical part of the workshop on day two when the participants paint their own street art.

In Lisbon the project worked with the City Council and their Galaria de Arta Urbana, who are committed to making the city of the global centres for street art, to use walls in specified locations to avoid any problems with residents or the police. The workshops have been run in numerous locations across Portugal and in late 2015 there were three sessions held with older people in São Paulo in Brazil.

There is anecdotal evidence of the positive effects that the project has on older people and one of its most committed supporters is Luisa Cortesao, a 65 year old retired doctor who has participated in the project since November 2012, who recognised the psycho-social benefits.

In relation to the active ageing index, Lata 65’s ‘Graffiti Grannies’ is relevant to promoting physical exercise (participants range in age from their late 50s to their early 90s) and the workshop is a form of lifelong learning with both theoretical and practical elements. Most importantly, the project provides a new form for creating social connections within and between generations while challenging ageist prejudices about art and older people.

Websites

Lata 65 on Facebook

Bored Panda

The Guardian

Vice