The series of graffiti “Brigadistes. The biggest solidarity event in history” is an initiative led by the artist Roc Blackblock as part of the Log Walls project in collaboration with various memory associations and organizations, among them the EUROM and the Council for Democratic Memory – Barcelona City Hall. By creating murals in significant locations along the path of the International Brigades, the project aims to depict various episodes of their involvement in the Spanish Civil War, including combat and rear areas, as well as their retreat and return to their home countries.
Each mural features a QR code that directs visitors to a specific page on the website mursdebitacola.com. There, they will find informative articles curated by historians, providing context and details about the depicted episode. The website also includes documentary material and a photographic report documenting the creative process.
“This project aims to serve as a means for communities to honour and value the International Brigades through art, culture and participation.”
Roc Blackblock
The graffiti commemorating the International Brigades’ passage through Barcelona and the farewell from its citizens has been executed at the Passeig de la Circumval·lació on June 8-9, 2023, and unveiled on June 14, 2023, at 10,30 am. The artwork was developed through a collaborative pedagogical work involving teachers and students from the secondary school Institut Quatre Cantons.
Since April 2023, students have been conducting research that will be reflected in the graffiti and accompanying the content on the website. They have participated in workshops led by historians Jordi Martí-Rueda and Carles Viñas, as well as Eduard Amouroux (Amical of the International Brigades), and Isabel Alonso Dávila (Catalan Association of Former Prisoners of Francoism) The students also visited the Library Pavilion of the Republic, which serves as the physical headquarters of SIDBRINT (Digital Information System of the International Brigades) at the University of Barcelona.
On July 03, 2023, the artwork was vandalized.
