The TED talk I chose to listen and read was How painting can change communities”. I’ve always loved art and the impact art can have on others. In this TED talk, Jeroen Koolhaas and Dre Urhahn traveled to Rio to film a documentary but during their journey, they were inspired by the handmade plastered houses that surrounded the city. They then decided to take these dark, gloomy brick buildings and give them a bigger meaning. They gathered a crew that then painted beautiful murals full of love and color. I found this so powerful. With just a bit of paint, it lifted the atmosphere and gave some life to the community. He states in this TED talk “but we saw some of these houses which were plastered and painted, and suddenly we had this idea: what would it look like if all these houses would be plastered and painted? And then we imagined one big design, one big work of art. Who would expect something like that in a place like this? So we thought, would that even be possible? So first we started to count the houses, but we soon lost count. But somehow the idea stuck.” I feel like this is the quote that started it all. It was the inspiration for this amazing idea which transformed a city. This is where it all started and struck this inspiration for a change. They took these buildings that may not have looked beautiful but were made beautifully and transformed them into a work of art. I find this so powerful and inspirational because you can take anything and make it beautiful and I feel like that is very important especially where there is a lot of darkness like in this case the crime.
