PugliArtist Street Art Festival Returns to Lecce with New Murals and Workshops

The second edition of PugliArtist – Ai confini della città has opened in Lecce, Italy, featuring street artists, illustrators, and creatives. The festival, organized by Emilia Ruggiero and advised by Lorenzo Madaro, focuses on the relationship between humans and space, with a particular emphasis on urban peripheries as sites of investigation and sharing. Participating artists include Millo, Chekos'Art, Andy Trema, Chiara Spinelli, Francesco Giannico, Sunseaska, and Jonatan Politi, all from Puglia. Chekos'Art unveiled a new mural at the intersection of Via Pozzuolo and Via Sozy Carafa on the facade of the municipal children's library, depicting the late Lecce painter Edoardo De Candia (1933-1992). The mural is part of an ongoing rehabilitation of De Candia's legacy, which began with the 2017 retrospective "Edoardo De Candia Amo, Odio, Oro" curated by Lorenzo Madaro and Brizia Minerva, promoted by the Regione Puglia and the Museo Castromediano di Lecce. Madaro noted that Chekos'Art has previously created works dedicated to other Salento cultural figures like Vittorio Bodini, Carmelo Bene, and Rina Durante. The festival includes meetings, exhibitions, and workshops for children, aiming to engage young audiences through collaborative activities. Madaro also highlighted the issue of forgeries of De Candia's works circulating in Lecce and Salento.