Street art has existed in Ponce, Puerto Rico, since at least the mid 20th century. It received a boost from the Ponce municipal authorities in 2017, with the creation of the public-private partnership Ponce es Ley. Since then, over four dozen works of art dot the city and, increasingly, the municipality. Street artists have prominently created murals in the Ponce Historic Zone as well as its adjacent areas and barrios.
One of the objectives of the Ponce es Ley urban festival event was "to create a âÂÂstreet museumâÂÂ, where people wouldn't have to enter a hall to view works of art," while also beautifying abandoned or unused buildings in PonceâÂÂs historical streets. It has been said that there is street art in Ponce because âÂÂstreet art is wed to the big cities, and that is Ponce[, a big city]". The city's street art has been termed "a street museum". It envisioned a city as a destination for art lovers.
Another notable street art project took place in January 2018 at Callejón Trujillo and termed "Murales para Pensar" (Murals to Make You Think). Unlike the Ponce es Ley murals, which portrayed Ponce history, and cultural, musical and architectural themes, Murales para Pensar portrays political, social and economic themes.
Street art existed in Ponce even prior to 1960 when the now non-existent mural âÂÂLa Abnegaciónâ (Selflessness) was unveiled by Rafael RÃÂos Rey, Puerto Rico's first street muralist, at the location now (2020) occupied by the Instituto de Musica Juan Morel Campos. Rafael RÃÂos Rey's mosaic street art at La Abnegación was lost to the perils of over 50 years of Ponce weather and by 2016 a Puerto Rico PIP representative Denis Márquez Lebrón to present a bill in the Puerto Rico legislature to investigate its disrepair.
By early 2016 the Museo "Museo Abierto Playa Ponce" (Ponce Playa Open Museum) had also been created, exhibiting dozens or murals.
In 2017, an artist from Santurce named Alexis Bousquet RodrÃÂguez, (aka, Clandestino 797) suggested a "festival of urban art", inspired by his own public art efforts in the San Juan neighborhood of Santurce (Santurce es Ley). His goal was to develop a network of street art that would cover all of Puerto Rico. The first town to embrace and implement the idea was the offshore island-municipality of Culebra. Once completed, Bousquet RodrÃÂguez met with the Ponce municipal authorities, who agreed to host such a festival, under the name Ponce es Ley.
The project was co-chaired by the Museo de Arte de Ponce, while the Ponce municipal government established the range of themes to be included in the murals, deciding that displays had to be consistent with the history, culture, music and architecture of the city of Ponce. The kickoff event for the Ponce es Ley project took place on 8 April 2017. Twenty-two local, regional, and international artists participated.
Ponce es Ley street art was created at or near Plaza Las Delicias, Paseo Amor, Plaza Degetau, and the Instituto de Musica Juan Morel Campos, among other sites. Designs drew on Ponce culture (including vejigantes), residents, city life, family memories and folklore, agriculture, and the Ponce countryside.
Murals not related to the Ponce es Ley event started popping up at different locations of the city. The most extensive of these is perhaps on Callejón Trujillo, sometimes also called Callejón Comercio. The murals at Callejón Trujillo are known as "Murales para Pensar" (Murals to Make You Think). Here, José Balay, Edwin CaquÃÂas, Miguel Conesa, Antonio Martorell, Ludwig Medina, Paola Olivieri, Jean Ortiz, Duque, Liu A. Pang Feliciano, Emérita Feliciano Vélez, Jorge Romero, Jorge Antonio Romero, Wilfredo Santiago Rosado, Julio César Torres, Wichie Torres, Patrick Urbain, and 25 other muralists created their projects. The mural was spearheaded by street art muralist Jesus Ortiz Torres, who named his mural Hechos (Facts).
Murales para Pensar openly criticizes then-Governor Pedro Rosselló, the Junta de Control Fiscal, and then-U.S. President Donald Trump. For example, one of the murals at Murales Para Pensar depicts the December 2017 visit to Puerto Rica by Trump, during which he made light of the suffering of Puerto Ricans from Hurricane Maria in September 2017. The mural depicts the moment when the president threw packs of paper towel supplies at people in the group, which consisted of selected political sympathizers in Guaynabo, a town located at a few minutes' drive from the president's arriving airport. Murales Para Pensar also reflect the massive migration of Puerto Ricas in recent years, and the thousands killed by the passing of Hurricane Maria but which were not initially accounted for by the Puerto Rico nor the United States governments. Unlike Ponce es Ley, Murales para Pensar openly addresses political, social and economic issues.
The street artists that participated at Murales para Pensar included José Balay, Edwin CaquÃÂas, Miguel Conesa, Juan Luis Cornier Torres (Manwe Uno), Luis Ferdinand, AlàGarcÃÂa, Tato González, Violeta Guzmán, Dany Lugo, Antonio Martorell, Ludwig Medina, Paola Olivieri, Jean Ortiz, Duque, Liu A. Pang Feliciano, Emérita Feliciano Vélez, Jorge Romero, Jorge Antonio Romero, Wilfredo Santiago Rosado, Julio César Torres, Wichie Torres, Patrick Urbain, Rafael Enrique Vega Feliciano, and Jesús Ortiz Torres. Several of these artists had participated in the Ponce es Ley festival the year before, while the majority had not.
There are also murals in a number of barrios not within the downtown area of the city, including Barrio Sexto (Cantera), Barrio Playa, and Barrio Tibes. There are numerous murals in Barrio Playa at Calle Salmón and Callejón Ramon Velez and a very extensive set of murals (over 20) with scenes typical of Barrio Playa on La Playa's Avenida Los Meros titled "Museo Abierto Playa Ponce" (Ponce Playa Open Museum).