The International Public Art Festival is a 10 day long mural festival that gathers artists from across the globe to harness the power of public art by creating murals in the neighborhood of Salt River, Cape Town. The theme each year is used to bring light to societal issues or concerns. The aim of the festival is to use public art to empower artists by providing them with exposure; Uplift communities with color and beautiful art pieces and to use the platform to educate on global issues.

The theme for IPAF 2019 is “Generation next: Educate, Collaborate, Empower” which is centered around a renewed focus on the future and unfolds the responsibility of present and successive generations in creating a better world for all. The themes each year is strategically chosen to spur dialogue and provoke deep though on global issues.

 Aïda Gómez was born in Madrid in 1986. She studied sculpting at Kunsthochschule Weißensee in Berlin (Germany) and Fine Arts at the UCLM in Cuenca (Spain). Working with language games, crossword puzzles and the playful replacement of social codes in our everyday environment, Aïda Gómez finds a way of capturing and challenging the view of passersby, turning them into playfellows in her self-appointed playgrounds in the streets. By placing posters with word search games on billboards, weaving hearts into fences or playing Tetris with missing pieces in a subway station panelling, the artist uses simple yet subversive techniques and what she calls non-violent materials to reveal hidden treasures. (AC/E press-release)