Street art is proliferating in Macao. Not only is the genre gaining mainstream acceptance, but it’s starting to make business sense too as cafés, boutiques and other businesses hankering after a dash of street cred begin to learn how a beautiful mural can do wonders for their Instagram appeal.
Now the city’s street art has its very own anthology. “The goal was to bring Macao’s street art into the spotlight, thereby strengthening and acknowledging the SAR’s urban culture,” says Filipa Simões, author of the Guide to Street Art in Macau.
Simões, a design professor at the University of Saint Joseph, published the book early this month, hoping to encourage residents and visitors alike to explore the city in search of “hidden treasures and unique stories through street art.”
A major hurdle for street artists is producing their work without breaking the law. Macao-born Anny Wong, who collaborates with her husband Filipe Wong under the name AAFK, told Macao News that she had found ways to create street art as a legitimate commercial venture, especially when it comes to education and community outreach.
[See more: The essential guide to Macao’s galleries and public art]
The Wongs were recently part of MGM China’s “Barra ARTivation,” for example, and were joined by 150 students and senior residents in the making of a 64-metre-long mural. “It’s never easy” she says, “but we’re doing our best to show people the great value of graffiti to make people find inspiration through art.”
Simões agrees and notes that street art “has become part of the mainstream culture used by governments and businesses worldwide to activate places and culture.” But she explained that for artists to thrive in a small city with limited space, they have to be smart in the way they approach businesses, government departments and building owners – without giving up that hint of rebelliousness that makes street art so appealing in the first place.
“This balance between the artist’s message and the promoters’ interest has been fruitful, but not defining of the local street art scene,” Simões says. “Street art is still a form of intervention that relies on irreverence and the artists’ free spirit.”
Here she chooses some of her favourite local murals, exclusively for Macao News.
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A whimsical piece created by South Korean artist Royal Dog in 2017 at Travessa dos Tréns – Photo by CURB Archive/David Lopo
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Lauren YS of the USA and SATR of China collaborated on this 2018 piece at Terminal Marítimo Macau-Hong Kong, ponte no. 5A do Porto Interior, Rua da Escola Náutica – Photo by CURB Archive/David Lopo
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This exquisitely realistic mural by Vitorino Vong and Jane Ieng, both from Macao, was painted in 2020 at Travessa da Assunção – Photo by CURB Archive/David Lopo
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Well-known Macao artist P.I.B.G. painted this vivid mural in 2020 at the Rua da Rosa
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A humorous mural by mainland Chinese artist SIK13, made in 2018 at the Calçada do Quartel – Photo by CURB Archive/David Lopo
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Another mural by Macao’s P.I.B.G. can be found at the Largo do Matadouro and dates from 2017 – Photo by CURB Archive/David Lopo
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Bordalo II from Portugal created this mural last year at the Lai Chi Vun shipyards – Photo by CURB Archive/David Lopo
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