If a picture paints 1,000 words…

DO you want to have a whale of a time this coming weekend?

If so we’re off to La Linea with paintbrush in hand to take part in the creation of a 25-metre long mural of just that, a huge blue whale. And for a good cause.

Peter Claesson, member of the English-speaking Mijas International Rotary Club and co-founder of Art for All in the World, is inviting us to take part in his latest project.

Since 1995 Peter has been ‘embracing the power of art as a force for positive change’ and creating community murals worldwide to bring life, colour and hope to places that have long been written off by society in general.

Through art he wants to create a better world, wall by wall, creating murals together with the underprivileged and those in need to change these precarious areas into tourist attractions, give rise to new businesses and opportunities and a new sense of pride to the community.

Previous projects prove that unemployment and even crime rates decrease significantly as abandoned neighbourhoods take on a new lease of life and the inhabitants a new sense of purpose.

The latest goal together with the Rotary Club’s support and that of Caritas is to transform La Linea into the world’s biggest outdoor museum with murals from famous artists from all over the world and give it a new lease of life.

Although many of us actually pass by there on our way to and from Gibraltar we do so without a second thought, unaware that this city is actually one of the poorest in Spain.

This project aims to bring the youth and the homeless of the city together to work with famous painters to create the artwork and then for them to become the very tour guides for the tourists that will then undoubtedly come.

We all have a chance to be a part of this change by joining the Rotary Club, Peter and other volunteers on this Saturday and Sunday in La Linea and paint this massive blue whale mural together in the Avenida de Mar, under the guidance of the renowned artist Eduardo Baquerizo de Sobrino.

There is a meagre €15 donation to participate in this event with funds to support Hogar Betania, a non-profit organisation supporting the homeless and people in need in La Linea.

For more information on this project please contact Nina Jarlov of the Mijas International Rotary Club on 639 306 781 and become part of someone else’s tomorrow and part of the bigger picture.

www.artforallintheworld.org  www.marbellanowtv.com