Culture
The South African Artist Painting Elephants on Houses
The veteran street artist Falko One brings colorful murals to small towns.
In 2011, the South African street artist Falko One—who has been a key player in the country’s street-art scene since the late 1980s—was hosting a week of workshops in Delft, a small, run-down suburb on the outskirts of his home of Cape Town. Each day, on his way back into the city, he would pause and paint a mural on one of the homes he passed.
Falko’s work is vibrant; his larger-than-life creations are filled with bright colors that come alive against the landscape. He quickly started thinking bigger. He sought out sponsors, and with small grants from Sportscene and the South Africa British Council, Falko spent two weeks transforming houses in Darling, a small town on the Western Cape.