Shinan-gun begins to create the world’s first graffiti island

Sinan-gun has begun to create the world’s first graffiti island ‘Great Graffiti Village’.

After signing an MOU with Urban & Street Art Festival Urban Break and Sinan County in 2023, they started a full-fledged graffiti island project with the participation of world-class artists such as Dulk in Spain, Johnwon in the United States, and Bills in Portugal.

https://youtu.be/WAYH2VX2FK0?si=qZqQeY0O8l3vs6rm

The “Great Graffle Village” project is part of the “1 Island 1 Museum” art project aimed at responding to population extinction and revitalizing the region through culture and art. The goal is to fill various parts of Sinan with unique works that contain the beautiful scenery of Sinan-gun and the personality of global artists.

Dulk, famous for National Geographic’s Expedition Expert, visited Abhae-eup, Sinan-gun in June 2024 to announce the start of the project. Dulk expresses the beauty of animals and nature and the destructive nature of environmental pollution from childhood, and this work will be inspired by animals on the tidal flats of Sinan, a World Natural Heritage site, such as dalangge, spoonbirds, and terns, and tigers, an endangered animal in Korea, to carry out the first work at the Amhae-eup office in Sinan.

JonOne from the U.S. will carry out his work by using tagging. He was awarded the Legion d’Honneur Medal of Arts, the highest honor in France, in 2015, and has expanded his art world through numerous collabos with global companies including LG. Jonwon plans to tag his artist name by using traditional Korean colors such as red, blue, and white. He will carry out his own unique graffiti work on both sides of the wall of Palace Park in Abhae-eup, Sinan.

Vhils, an artist from Portugal, will also visit Sinan County in September this year to showcase his work. Inspired by the pain of the Portuguese revolution and the subsequent changes in the city’s walls, Vhils has been working on painting self-portraits using techniques to dig out the walls. He drill a step on the wall or floor to add some shading.

Starting with the participation of three artists, a large number of world-class artists will participate in the project, which will last for three years until 2026. The art island project in Sinan County, embroidered with works by artists with a colorful lineup to be announced in the future, is also a project to lay the groundwork for young people who have left the region as well as tourists visiting Sinan County to see the world’s first graffiti art island.

In 2021, the United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) named Purple Island (Banwol island & Bagji island) in Sinan County as the best tourist village. Sinan County, located in the western and southernmost part of Korea, is a paradise for islands consisting of 1025 beautiful islands.