This November I was invited by street artist & community organizer, TooFly, to attend an all-female urban arts festival in Quito, Ecuador and share my work-in-progress on ‘Street Heroines’, the film I am directing about what it’s like to be a female graffiti and street artist in male-dominated subculture. I had met TooFly three years ago while attending a similar type of festival in Lima, Peru and we’ve remained in touch over the years as I’ve navigated the graffiti underground. Originally from Queens, New York, she relocated to Ecuador three years ago and had been planning an event to unite women in the creative arts and empower others in her new community. Naturally I was was more than honored to be a part of her event that would bring women artists and creators to the forefront of cultural happenings in Latin America.

Warmi! Paint featured twenty international female artists, including honored guests Lady Pink, the first female of graffiti and Martha Cooper, graffiti and street art photographer extraordinaire. Other guests included talented Latina artists from Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Mexico, Peru, Puerto Rico and the US, as well as ten local artists from Ecuador. In its inaugural year, there were typical hurdles that any festival faces when dealing with the bureaucracy of a developing country, however, over the course of four days 20 vibrant murals were painted throughout the bustling capital city.

During the week, we all lived together, ate together and created together. While the artists painted, I filmed and interviewed them and Martha Cooper photographed. Many of their street art pieces were aimed at engaging the public in a conversation about women’s rights and brought awareness to women-focused issues such as body, identity, domestic violence, and social justice.

In addition to the street painting, there was a program of presentations including Martha Cooper’s personal slideshow of photographs she’s taken over the years that recounted how she put graffiti on the map by publishing pictures of painted trains in 1970s New York. Lady Pink lead a workshop on graffiti and Catalina Bobone, an urban arts organizer from Colombia, spoke about community engagement for Pictopia, a street art festival that happens in Medellin. During my ‘Street Heroines’ presentation, which featured six vignettes on female street artists I’ve interviewed over the years, I also held an interactive session on how to conduct an artist interview.

The last mural of Warmi! Paint was painted by TooFly and it was no easy feat. She scaled the university’s administration building to complete the tallest mural in all of Ecuador, which only seems fitting as she’s figuratively and literally taking female graffiti and street art to new heights.

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Warmi Paint© is an all women arts, and culture festival ready to launch in Quito, Ecuador this fall. A celebration of women street artists from Latin America who focus on; graffiti, street art, murals, and empowering others, especially young women through their colorful work. A group of local and international artists will be selected by Maria “Toofly” Castillo and Ache Vallejo that will include countries like Ecuador, Colombia, Chile, Argentina, Brasil, and others.  

Warmi = Woman in quechua, the name of a people of the central Andes of South America and their language. Women of all ages from this part of the world will create a new vision of themselves, nurture their community, and reflect a powerful message.

Special guests of honor; LADY PINK, and MARTHA COOPER + 20 women will paint collaborative murals, host workshops, and present their life’s work to the Ecuadorian community.