The world is changing drastically and many rebellious street artists are painting their political messages on the impoverished streets around the world. There’s some funky things going on in the City of Madrid, as the urban cleaning services are on strike for nearly 10 days. Its reported that Madrid’s Mayor, Ana Botella said, “the garbage is not a public health risk, but the situation had become “intolerable.”

Right now, Madrid is going through a recession and the government is slowly trying to bring back the jobs lost. When a country is going through a rough time, creative minds and activist start to emerge. A lot of street artists start to make the beautiful city their canvas is share their creativity. But in 2009, Mayor Ana Botella passed a bill banning artist from painting in the streets. Even though it’s said that graffiti is an act of vandalism, it’s also an act of freedom of expression through art.

There’s a crew of street artists that go by the name of ANA BOTELLA who are taking their voice to the streets of Madrid. ANA BOTELLA is a conceptual graffiti crew that is taking charge against what major Botella says, “GRAFFITI is not an ART.” We spoke to them briefly about what they stand for.

Who is the woman in the black and white photo that is on the garbage?
It’s Ana Botella, the mayor of Madrid. So, that’s way we’re called ANA BOTELLA CREW. We started the crew in 2009, when she started to push up the bills for painting in the streets. We found her signature look and tagged Madrid. We opened the game to everyone who wants to tag thier city. That’s when the Crew became international. Many people asked for the stencil and tagged their city.

See more work from the ANNA BOTELLA CREW