Brazilian graffiti artist creates record of painting the world’s largest mural

If there was an award for creating graffiti murals, Brazilian graffiti artist Eduardo Kobra would have won it over and over! This 40-year-old man is so good with colours and spray paints that he has become the creator of world’s largest graffiti mural which is in Rio de Janeiro. It all started in the year 2016, when Rio de Janeiro hosted the Olympics. While the city was busy in the games’ preparation, Kobra was busy forming the design for his graffiti. This Rio de Janeiro graffiti mural he created can be seen on a 190-metre long wall, located along Rio de Janeiro’s port.
It took Kobra more than two months to finish this work of art wherein he worked for around 12 hours every day. He named his mural ‘Etnias’ or ‘Ethnicities’, which revolves around the theme of togetherness. To fill in his art, he used 1,500 litres of coloured paint, 100 gallons of white paint and 3,500 cans of spray paint. In those paintings, one can see five faces from five different continents. These faces are of a Brazilian Tajapo boy, a Thai Kayin woman, an Ethiopian Mursi woman, a Northern European Supi man and Huli man of Papua New Guinea. Not only they represent humankind but they also stand for each of the five colours of the rings forming the Olympic symbol.

On the Rio 2016 official website, Kobra was quoted saying, “These are the indigenous people of the world. The idea behind it is that we are all one. We’re living through a very confusing time with a lot of conflict. I wanted to show that everyone is united, we are all connected.” The painting is a significant part of Olympic Boulevard, where the games were held. This graffiti stands as a tribute to street artists and the street art culture for which the city is worldwide known for.