Warsaw

The Art

In this fantastic collaboration, Ewa and Lis Kula explain that the core message of this mural is about the collaborative effort of breaking down societal gender norms. “We presented people from various environments, who build sort of a new version of the world. The characters crush the wall they are portrayed on. They create holes and cracks in it, and reach a new self-created reality through them,” Lis Kula explains. Ewa adds, emphasizing that “we used my favorite technique of combining reality with imagination, thus creating new worlds, parallel realities.”

Even the way in which Lis Kula and Ewa worked on this mural spoke to the message behind it. Lis Kula’s focus on the mural was to illustrate the punching out of holes in the wall, “exposing a fantastic land of nature and love behind the wall, where gender does not matter,” explains his counterpart. These holes are knocked out by figures drawn by Ewa, laddering back up to the larger metaphor of breaking out of the boxes that society puts us in through collaboration.

“Our project is simply a celebration of diversity and individualism,” says Lis Kula. He wants people to be proud of who they are and be able to express themselves however they feel.

“Art can encourage people to act,” says Lis Kula. “It can also act as a symbol, whether of a movement or a social protest.” He goes on to stress that art can educate and “normalize issues that may have seemed alien to people so far.” Using Converse All Star Murals as a platform to talk about gender equality in an urban space, Lis Kula and Ewa believe that this platform can help to inform millions of people on important social issues. Ewa believes that art can encourage action, because it “reaches completely different types of emotions and human sensitivity, which can surely mobilize to act."

“Breaking down barriers is just trying to make life better for everyone,” ends Ewa.

Through this mural Ewa and Lis Kula planted the equivalent of 364 trees, showing the power of sustainability and using our resources wisely. Converse believes it has an opportunity to renew its impact by creating fresh air in its communities through Converse All Star Murals.