Over the past few years, there’s been a concerted effort in Philadelphia to rejuvenate commercial corridors around the city through community involvement initiatives and beautification projects.
Germantown Avenue, the primary commercial strip serving Philly’s most northwestern area, is next on the list. On Wednesday, a large-scale beautification project, dubbed Philly Painting, will launch on a portion of Germantown Avenue in the Logan neighborhood.
Designing the project are Dutch artists Jeroen Koolhaas and Dre Urhahn, who work under the name Haas & Hahn.
The pair gained recognition for their work in the favelas (“shanty towns”) of Rio de Janeiro from 2006 to 2010. The artists led local children and teens as they transformed the favelas into a citywide art canvas, featuring vibrant images of residents and animals from the Amazon.
While working in Brazil, the two artists started the Firmeza Foundation, an initiative intended to “support the creation of striking artworks in unexpected places,” according to the artists’ website.
With funding from a coalition of public and private institutions, Koolhaas and Urhahn will employ the same formula along Germantown Avenue, as local artists and community members will work to bring the artists’ designs to the street.
The site is the first of over a hundred locations along Germantown Avenue targeted for beautification.
See how Koolhaas and Urhahn transformed the look of Rio’s favelas in the photo gallery below:
Gallery: Favela Painting
All photos by Haas&Hahn