Street Art: Dialogues between artistic practices and the community

Introduction: The text focuses on a series of projects developed by Portuguese artist Alexandre Farto, aka Vhils, which involved local communities in collaborative artistic practices. Methodology: The artistic practices analysed are part of the methodology known as community-based art. The data was analysed by observing these projects and interviewing the artist. Results: Taking two of Vhils's projects that involved community participation as a starting point, we analysed them based on the documents collected, namely videos, photographs and interviews. Discussion: The visual and discursive dimensions of these projects and the information gathered from the artist who mediated this whole process allowed us to access a set of meanings that crossed artistic, social and political domains. Conclusions: The articulation of these domains in the context of artistic processes that require community participation allows their impact to be significantly amplified, since it promotes greater engagement, empowerment and social cohesion in that community.