“SOY RAÍZ” is a collaborative mural painting project located at the Cima de la Libertad, in which more than 250 residents and students from Quito participated voluntarily. A piece that comprehensively covers more than 1.000 m2 of the sports field and the two adjacent retaining walls.

The work projects the words “I AM ROOT” superimposed, generating color interactions that are altered in each of the four sectors into which the piece is divided.

“SOY RAÍZ” offers a look at the roots that establish the foundations of freedom. As well as a new look at the future, celebrating the union between Spain and Ecuador, 200 years after the battle of Pichincha.

An embryo in which each person who has participated constitutes the root from which a new future sprouts.

PEAK OF FREEDOM

The Cima de la Libertad is a decisive place in the history of Ecuador. In 1822, this hill was the scene of the Battle of Pichincha, which culminated in the liberation of the city, consolidating the roots of the country's independence. Today, 200 years later, the Cima de la Libertad is one of the communities most excluded from the social dynamics of the rest of the city.

We chose the neighborhood sports field with the intention of recovering the neighborhood appropriation of a space that had been cancelled since the pandemic.

Court before the intervention

Participación

For “SOY RAÍZ”, a design chosen by the residents, we understood the retaining walls and the court itself as a single element on which to deploy the piece.

For the development of the three graphic proposals and subsequent voting, we worked with more than 80 neighbors in a community process coordinated by the collective On the Edge and the IMP.

More than 250 people from the Cima de la Libertad community and other parts of the city, schools, institutes and universities participated in the execution of the work, with the aim of breaking down that invisible barrier and building a bridge through a piece of art.

Symbolically, it represents the root of a new beginning for the Freedom Summit, a meeting point based not on confrontation but on cooperation, solidarity and what unites us as human beings.

Initial survey with the residents of Cerro de la Libertad.

Voting day for the selection of the final design.

The winning design superimposes the words SOY and ROOT.

Chosen design adapted to the support.