To some, the graffiti that covers miles of walls and public spaces across Mexico City is a thing of beauty and something to be encouraged and celebrated. To others, such as the local government’s Youth Institute, it’s an ugly nuisance.

A government project mobilized more than 1,000 youngsters earlier this month to clean up and repaint a graffiti-covered wall in the south of the city, as part of an urban spruce-up scheme for the summer.

See the video for more.

– Deborah Bonello in Mexico City for the Los Angeles Times.

Video: The Mexico City government recruited more than 1,000 young people in this to make over a graffiti-covered wall in the south of the city. Credit: Deborah Bonello / Los Angeles Times

Karla Lizbeth Zunega Chavez, 20, who uses the identity “Fanzye” for her work, grew up saving her pocket money to spend on aerosol cans.

“I didn’t eat anything at the weekend so I could go and buy a box of cans, or sometimes I’d just buy three because of the cost,” she says.

Now her work, and that of other young Mexican graffiti artists, has been taken off the streets by a family-business partnership and placed in a gallery in downtown Mexico City.

Cave Men Did It First is the first permanent art space in the city dedicated exclusively to graffiti.

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You may remember Colombian street artist Bastardilla from the piece I did on La Plaza a few months back.

In a country with such a rich artistic heritage of mural-ism, graffiti is a popular past-time for many of Mexico´s youth.

Last week, Henry Chalfant – a photographer and filmmaker who has focused his career on documenting the form of street art — paid a visit to el Faro, a community arts center in the working class neighborhood of Iztapalapa, Mexico City. The event was organized by Graffitarte, a Mexico City-based arts group.

Some of the young people who came to the event were there specifically to see Chalfant — others just wanted the chance to graffiti in peace in a city where space for their form of expression is limited. Watch the video for more.

This post was made for La Plaza.