Murals

My husband, Alfredo Mires, was fascinated by the murals, these immense paintings that adorn walls and that inspire us to think. I think that was one of the reasons why he travelled and walked the hills of Cajamarca to recover try to decipher the cave paintings and the messages that the ancient inhabitants of these lands have left us.

And I have witnessed many moments when Alfredo stopped in front of a graffiti to take a photo or write down the text in his notebook; also his computer is full of files with these graffiti notes. Sometimes, over an afternoon coffee together, he would talk to me about his projects of decorating the Rural Libraries' premises with graffiti and murals, of adorning our house with his texts and paintings or of convincing people of some beautiful place to draw and write the stories of the Encyclopaedia Campesina in the walls of their houses, making it even more beautiful.

That is why I was not surprised when our daughter Mara a couple of weeks ago asked me if she could decorate the walls, doors, steps and other spaces in our house with drawings, paintings and texts of her father.

That is what we are doing: painting, drawing and writing in different spaces in the heart of our ayllu.I believe that this is Mara's way of transforming the house so that it no longer reminds us so much and in every corner of  Alfredo's absence, but also to follow in his footsteps, to capture his memory and honour his legacy. For Forever, Alfredo

Rita Mocker