Murals at a housing project in Portugal highlight UN goals and build local pride

AMADORA, Portugal — One mural, “No Poverty,” shows a Black woman tenderly braiding the hair of a white woman — a snapshot of family bonds that grew out of difficult times. Another, called “No Hunger,” depicts a local woman showing children her vegetable garden so they know where their food comes from.

They are among a collection of giant murals at a housing project on the outskirts of the Portuguese capital Lisbon that tell tales of intimacy, resilience and sustainable living.

The colorful art decorating the sides of almost identical five-story apartment blocks in the Zambujal area of Amadora, amid washing hanging out to dry and rows of parked cars, aims to showcase United Nations' sustainable development goals that strike a chord in the neighborhood. The goals include reducing inequality and decent jobs.

The project has earned national and international attention. It has also inspired a measure of local pride that was in short supply among the ethnically diverse community in this underprivileged neighborhood.

Ana Gomes, a local resident, welcomed the new vitality the murals have brought.

“I think this is a good thing. Our neighborhood catches the eye now, we have lots of visitors to see it,” she said. “It’s a shame that some things are not ok (in the neighborhood), but they do what they can.”

The conspicuous murals aim to draw a link between the lives of local people and the 17 goals at the heart of the U.N. 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. The goals also include quality education, good health and well-being, and fighting poverty — goals the U.N. says are in trouble.

The project was the brainchild of the CAZAmbujal association, a group of locals whose slogan is “Changing the world together,” and the Ad Gentes association, which run it together.

For the mural project it invited people, some of whom had never painted on a wall, to try their hand at outdoor art, says Vitor Monteiro, the 51-year-old head of CAZAmbujal.

The key challenge was for artists to portray the experiences and stories of local people, he says.

The task was to “get to know the stories of the neighborhood, to know the people, to feel the essence of the neighborhood and from there, to link the (sustainable development goals) to the stories of the people of the neighborhood,” Monteiro told The Associated Press.

Local guides have been providing explanations of the characters rendered in the murals to visiting groups from Portugal, including school groups, and from abroad.

Some of the guides are young local residents who tell visitors their own stories as well, making the tour more enriching and unique, Monteiro says.

“The people of the neighborhood feel increasingly proud of belonging here,” Monteiro said. “‘I am from Zambujal’ people say with pride, and this is what we are building here, a sense of belonging.”