Urban art depicts Serranía de Ronda village's rural heritage

Igualeja in the Serranía de Ronda's Upper Genal valley has embraced urban art, while being careful to break neither with its traditional appearance nor with the fabulous nature surrounding the village. This landscape includes a vast area in which chestnut trees are grown, therefore forming an important part of the so-called 'Bosque de Cobre' (copper forest), which gains its name due to the colourful deciduous leaves of its trees. The shades of gold, yellow, brown and ochre that tint this part of the Serranía de Ronda in autumn have attracted an increasing flow of visitors, who hike along the different routes in the forest, stay in the area overnight and enjoy the local cuisine.

This experience is enriched by Igualeja's murals route, with four paintings on different façades in the village created by the artist José Enrique Ragel, known as Bestror. This Benalmádena native is the painter behind a number of other works in the area, such as in Montecorto and Jubrique, which have murals which measure approximately 40 and 50 metres on two façades. In Igualeja, Bestror has created hyperrealistic paintings, which blend both modern and traditional touches, introducing urban art to the village. Many municipalities are showing increasing interest in this type of artwork, although each is also looking to maintain distinctiveness and uniqueness. This is what Bestror has achieved in Igualeja.

In Igualeja, the four murals that have been painted so far revolve around chestnuts, as this crop contributes to sustaining, to a large extent, the local economy. "The municipal authority asked me to make everything related to chestnuts, to the Bosque de Cobre. The murals have modern and traditional touches and are not excessively colourful, in keeping with the graffiti style, so as not to break with the surroundings," said Bestror, who highlighted the warm welcome he has received from the residents of Igualeja. "My muses were the locals themselves, who have been looking after me and helping me, they have been very enthusiastic," said the artist.

The third mural depicts an elderly woman roasting chestnuts, "an emblematic scene of our village," said the municipal authority. The fourth piece is of a boy, with his dog, watering a chestnut tree. "We integrated a real chestnut tree into this piece, and the dog belongs to one of the residents," said the artist.