So far, the Foundever™ Conversation at HeART project has was been completed in Paris, France to Barranquilla, Colombia to São Paulo, Brazil. This month, we travel back once again to Colombia to see our latest artwork inspired by our culture and our people in Cali.
The Foundever Cali hub borders Rio Cali, a river that crosses the city and along which numerous murals from local artists are painted on the buildings. Unsurprisingly, the local Cali team to have the artwork applied to an interior wall within the location’s courtyard. This particular wall they chose faces the river and is visible from the outside, welcome all who can see the building. The mural measures 5 meters high and 17 meters long.
After the remarkable collaboration with artists DMental in Barranquilla – for both the relationship built with the team and the art itself – the Colombian team chose to partner with them again for this project in Cali.
However, this time another artistic method was chosen to be able to directly involve the 800 associates in Cali. The associates were asked to vote for the symbols they wanted to see in the artwork. A survey was conducted to learn which places, foods, events or images best represented the city of Cali, according to them. The artists were directly inspired by the 170 responses they received to compose this mural artwork which celebrates the city.
In the mural, two women with different ethnicities, face each other to symbolize Cali’s diverse culture. In the background, there are various landmarks of the city including Cristo Rey, a +20-meter sculpture; percussion instruments and maracas, representing Salsa dancing; a large cat sculpture which is the namesake of the popular park called Parque del Gato; two fruits, lulo and chantaduro, which are unique to Colombia and stand-out local favorites in Cali; and finally the gorgeous pink flower (flor de guayacán rosado) from a typical tree of the region. The Foundever values were also written in Graffiti style to connect with the Barranquilla Foundever Hub artwork.
Once the draft of the artwork was validated, the first step was to restore the wall to ensure the artists had a nice canvas to apply their work. During the artwork installation, only 30% of the workforce was able to attend the creation of the mural as the others are working from home right now to ensure safety during the pandemic. But, the Cali team is delighted with the energy this artwork has brought to the building with its bright colors and local flavor.