Pedasi Mural Route: a way to Explore the Town

The Pedasi mural route is not new. A few years ago, a group of friends formed a group called “Pedasí Querido Pueblo Colorido” (Pedasi, Beloved Colorful Town), which is still active on Facebook. The idea was to create a street art festival called Pedasi Arte (Pedasi Art). And they were very successful, filling the town with color. But that was in 2017, almost nine years ago. Over time, the rain and sun took their toll, and the murals faded. That’s why they decided to create another version of Pedasi Art called Pedasi Colorido (Colorful Pedasí).

This Pedasi mural route event took place from May 25th to 30th. The artists had five days, from Monday to Friday, to create their murals of Pedasi. It was a real challenge. The Pedasi Art week culminated on Saturday, May 30th, with the Pedasi Jazz Experience in the town park. This event was organized by the Department of Culture and the Municipality of Pedasi. Meanwhile, Pedasi Colorido had the support of the Municipality of Pedasi, private companies and volunteers.

We hope the jazz festival will be held again in Pedasi next year. This type of event has the potential to attract local and international tourists, filling our hotels, restaurants, and other establishments.

The Pedasi mural route is the first stage of Pedasi Art. Two more stages are planned: tree planting and house painting.

Pedasi Mural Route

The idea behind the Pedasi mural route was to create an open-air art gallery. The event’s motto was “10 artists, 10 murals, 10 stories to tell,” all inspired by the traditions, natural beauty, and essence of this district in the province of Los Santos.

The Pedasi mural route was created from a list of themes that included:

Historical memory and tradition:

• Mud gathering
• Artisanal fishing
• Devotion to Saint Catherine of Alexandria and Our Lady of Mount Carmel (Patron Saint of fishermen)
• Craftswomen making traditional skirts or headdresses
• Carnival (Upper and Lower Streets)
• Festival of the loose bull and the cart
• Making of “motetes” and using the sugar mill

Other themes from the Pedasi mural route:

• Iguana Island and its natural treasures
• Dolphin and whale watching
• Sea turtle nesting and turtle hatching
• Beaches and dunes
• Gardens with native plants
• Surfing and bodyboarding
• Shore fishing

Artists in Pedasi

Colorful Pedasi launched a call for submissions on its social media, inviting national and international artists to participate. The requirements were simple: be of legal age, have experience creating murals on walls or on a large scale, prepare a list of materials, and submit two color sketches focused on one of the proposed themes.

These were the murals painted in Pedasi:

Mural 1: “Festival del Toro Suelto” (Festival of the Loose Bull) – Eduardo de León – a traditional festival from old Pedasi, evoking the rural and popular life of yesteryear.

Mural 2: “Colorful Pedasi” – Aleks – represents cultural symbols such as drums, traditional clothing, tembleques (traditional hair ornaments), hats and elements of the environment.

Mural 3: “Tides of Pedasi” – Sharito Moreno (Shar) – portrays the relationship of Pedasi with the sea and the daily life of the district.

Mural 4: “Time is a Whale” – Jenmo – a metaphor for time that narrates the life of a couple from youth to old age, as a tribute to those who live by the sea.

Mural 5: “Iguana Island” – Paula English – a foreign resident of Pedasi, which shows the ecological and natural richness of this marine park.

Mural 6: “The heartbeat of the sea on the walls of Pedasi” – Pamela Perez – painted a work that seemed to come from a children’s story, focused on marine conservation and the diversity of our Pacific Ocean.

Mural 7: “Making the motete” – Jasson Saenz – is a mural dedicated to the artisan from Purio, Gonzalo Herrera Herrera, who has preserved the knowledge passed down from generation to generation.

Mural 8: “Making tembleques” – Ariel Castillo (Little Mermaid) – paid homage to her artisan grandmother and the family legacy that sustains Panamanian folklore.

Mural 9: “Surrealist Folklore” – Sergio Smith (Madmagos) – represented the nostalgia of those who migrated to the city, leaving behind the countryside and Panamanian festivals.

Mural 10: “Ties of identity” – Membache – was inspired by the harmony between flora, fauna and environmental balance.