vhils honors healthcare workers + ancillaries with massive mural in porto

vhils has been interacting visually with the urban environment since his days as a prolific graffiti writer in the early 2000s. known for his groundbreaking carving technique where he uses a palette of bricks, white paint, and torn billboards, vhils extracts different wall sections in order to highlight the piece’s site-specific topics. his latest work is a mural in porto, portugal that honors healthcare workers and ancillaries that have been in the front line of the COVID-19 pandemic.

images © vhils by @expandingroots⁠

located on the entrance of porto’s university hospital center of são joão, this new mural by vhils features ten massive faces that represent the doctors, nurses, cleaning staff, kitchen and maintenance workers that have been battling the pandemic. the ten faces are a tribute to these often forgotten true everyday heroes and to highlight both their individual importance and that of portugal’s national health service.

‘starting today, this new symbolic front line will accompany all those who enter or leave the university hospital center of são joão, so that we do not forget those who work altruistically for the well-being of the population, in support and service to the community,’ commented vhils on facebook, where he first unveiled the images of the mural.

project info: