Meninas de Canido 2023, this is the urban art festival in Ferrol

History Canido neighborhood in Ferrol is the story of a local artist who, after a genius of which he is not yet aware, has managed to create a social phenomenon worldwide of such a level that it has attracted the attention of the greatest reference in the world. street art, Banksy.

Is Eduardo Hermida, who, driven by love for his land and social criticism, has helped change the destiny of a city immersed in an industrial crisis, with a process of depopulation and deterioration of some of its urban areas.

Some time ago we had the opportunity to travel to Galicia for visit Ferrol and know your route of Modernism, discovering the numerous examples of buildings of this architectural style that you can find in the center Magdalena neighborhood.

This story caught our attention at the time, but in our recent trip around Ferrol, an area known as Ferrolterra, we have been able to see again how the Meninas de Canido They continue to change the city.

What are they and how were the Meninas de Canido born?

But let's start at the beginning to be able to fully understand the magnitude and impact of this story that can inspire many people to change the situation around them.

Eduardo Hermida is an artist who has been able, through art, to change the dynamic of deterioration that had Ferrol after the crisis suffered by some shipyards dating back to the 18th century, an icon of the province of A Coruña.

This artist, tired of the drift that his town was taking, decided to take the art out of the museums and take it to the streets to give color to his gray city, painting on a façade a menina.

Elected Las Meninas by Diego Velázquez for his admiration for the social criticism of one of the icons of Spanish culture, a painter whom he has always admired.

A spark of genius combined with an act of protest has meant that today there are more than 300 painted meninas along the facades of the houses Canido neighborhood in ancient industrial city of Ferrol.

Today there are hundreds of artists from all over the world who contact Eduardo to offer to capture his works, contributing his own style to this common theme that he launched.

This has its greatest expression during the celebration of the Canido Meninas Festival which takes place every year on the first weekend of September.

It is an artistic phenomenon that has appeared on all television stations in the world as a result of an advertising campaign by a beer brand that invited the very famous and controversial artist of the beer to paint on one of its facades. urban art, Banksy, whose works are always surrounded by controversy.

History of the Canido neighborhood

El Canido neighborhood is a old village which is now integrated into the highest part of the urban structure of Ferrol.

In the middle of the last century, canid It maintained habits typical of a village, with low houses next to which there were orchards, and where the neighbors lived on the street, and the doors of the houses were open.

After the crisis of the naval industry suffered in Ferrol, little by little canid It was deteriorating and its houses were abandoned.

It almost became a marginal neighborhood of Ferrol, where Ferrol residents hardly went given the effort involved in walking up the steep slopes from the Magdalena neighborhood for get to Canido.

Festival of the Meninas de Canido 2023 in Ferrol

Aware of this situation, in September 2008 the aforementioned ferrolano painter Eduardo Hermida, Resident in canid, made the decision to summon other artist friends to, on a festive day, decorate the facades of some of the houses with paintings that evoked the famous painting of Velázquez's Las Meninas.

Since then, every first weekend of september this has been repeated Ferrol cultural festival, with increasing participation of artists, although today not only new works are made on that holiday.

The result is that year after year the facades of the increasingly well-kept houses of canid have been acquiring a characteristic image with works of the most different styles, but always with a greater or lesser connection to the aforementioned Girls.

During our walk through the streets of Canido neighborhoodHe himself Eduardo Hermida, with pride, explains to us how now numerous artists from all over the world, aware of this artistic initiative of urban regeneration, ask to participate in this festival.

In this way, what began as a meeting of friends has become a culture eventl supported by himself Council of Ferrol, an authentic party with music, poetry reading and gastronomic tastings, among other activities.

All the dates of the Meninas de Canido Festival 2023 consist of of September 1 to 3, and up to 60 international painters and muralists will attend to capture their works, and 13 concerts will also be held.

Here you have information with the program of the Festival de las Meninas de Canido 2023.

Route of the Meninas de Canido in Ferrol

The fact is that now the Las Meninas Route in the neighborhood of canid It is an attraction for excursions and cruises that bring tourists to Ferrol.

There they find the most diverse artistic proposals on the most famous painting by Velázquez.

And, furthermore, thanks to this regeneration process, the houses of canid Little by little they have been rehabilitated and their prices have been rising, so that the neighborhood has become a fashionable place where professionals and artists want to take up residence.

During your walk along the Las Meninas route Don't be surprised to discover that the street furniture that the city council has been installing in recent years also has the aforementioned Girls as a graphic icon.

There is no route as such, do not expect to find a list of girls to visit, because the idea is that you walk around the neighborhood and let yourself be surprised.

Furthermore, they are changing and ephemeral works since as there are buildings that are being rebuilt, new ones emerge as others disappear.

Banksy graffiti in Canido in Ferrol

Perhaps the most curious part of all this is the involvement of the artist Banksy in all this phenomenon.

For those of you who don't know him, Banksy became famous for his graffiti of profound social criticism on the streets of the United Kingdom, and one of his best-known works is the police couple kissing.

Nobody knows who he is, there has never been a photo of him, nor is there any information about him, since he is also not on social networks and he barely has a Email contact.

He is an artist who paints in the streets, but lives in absolute anonymity.

He recently sold a work at auction for more than 1 million pounds, and just at the moment it was awarded, the work began to self-destruct as part of the artist's game of rebellion.

A news that appeared in all the media in the world.

As part of a promotional event for a beer brand that won awards for the best advertising campaign of the year, a call was made to the artist Banksy to go to Ferrol to join the initiative.

They left him a blank mural with a sign that made it clear that it was a space reserved for said artist and his work, a promotional act that appeared on all television and which must have reached his ears.

After a long time without knowing anything, one night one of his works appeared on that mural reserved for the artist.

In our Canidus visit A neighbor told us that one night he saw some men speaking in another language and painting with some large sheets, after which the next day they saw what the work had filled that blank mural reserved for Banksy.

It is not known for sure if the work is his, the only thing that is known is that at the time Banksy He made a list of works that appeared around the world whose attribution he denied; canid, which gives rise to thinking that, indeed, it is his work.

Eduardo Hermida, The founder of Las Meninas de Ferrol, told us that he had a communication with the artist's contact, in which they asked him that if they removed the advertising mark from the mural, they would give them a response as to the authorship of the work.

But out of respect for the brand that helped him in the promotion, he decided not to remove it, so until now we do not know for sure if Banksy is truly the author of that graffiti.

Las Meninas in Augmented Reality

An aspect that gives greater added value to visits, especially when you travel with children, is the mobile application that they have released to be able to truly immerse yourself in these works of art.

You just have to download the free application VIEW for mobile phones with IOS system and VIEW AUGMENTED REALITY for mobiles Android.

Once installed, the mobile is placed in front of some of the Meninas that fill the city with color, and after scanning it, the application shows you a personalized animation for each work.

In some works the colors are modified, in others the characters move; undoubtedly a curiosity that makes artistic immersion in the works different from mere contemplation.

In short, the walk through the Meninas de Canido It has become a essential on your visit to Ferrol.