Metropolitan iconographies- Saints of Charlois

Metropolitan iconographies-saints of Charlois is a street art project that was realized in Rotterdam. It consists of a series of portraits of everyday people that live in the working class suburbs of the city depicted as saints. The images are created in collaboration with the designer Anastasia Tsaparoglou and combine pop art visuals and elements of the byzantine iconographic tradition.

The artists that have lived in the area and got involved in various community art projects in the south meet and photograph residents and then use their photos and their personal stories to create digital collages that combine visual elements shared in pop and in byzantine religious art: dynamic colours,two-dimensional background, abstraction and symbols. These icons of the community members are exposed on the streets in various location throughout Charlois. By presenting them as figures of awe and respect the aim is to empower people of the community to believe in themselves, be proud of who they are and look for inspiration and power on saints, idols and heroes not above them but inside them. It is about the question of the idols, heroes and respectful icons we worship in current society and more specifically in the poorer suburbs of the big cities.

Another aim of this project is to draw attention to those neglected areas where their residents are often being ignored by the state and the other citizens of the city. The portraits are strategically placed in points of interest and create a route through Charlois. This way the viewers are invited to stroll through the area by following a suggested map and meet the people living in it. In other words, this street art project is a spatial design transformation with the inhabitants of Charlois as the actual tool of the transformation.

Visitors are invited to the area of Charlois from the inhabitants themselves and they can experience the vibes of the area through the stories and auras of the locals. The icons are placed on public and semi- public elements such as electricity boxes, street corners, bridges,squares,trees, facades of houses and shop windows. It is a project inspired by the everyday people of Charlois, built by them, characterized by them and finally referred to them. In addition, it aims to break the stereotypes that the rest of Rotterdam habitants believe for Charlois and it comes on the moment that the plans for the ‘’improvement’’ of the neighbourhood -that will exclude the weaker members of the area- are about to begin.