During the November edition of the WallRide Sundays (monthly events organised by the WallRide Association, taking place on the last Sunday of each month at the Faro Skatepark), the graffiti and skateboarding communities joined forces to visually rehabilitate the space.

The public sports equipment had suffered from years of neglect and abandonment, which resulted in a visual environment that caused great discomfort to its regular users, as well as compromising the functional integrity of some of the ramps and obstacles.

WallRide had already made some previous interventions in the skatepark throughout its first year of work, but it chose to recognise the legitimacy of the local graffiti community as secondary users of the space. As such, the event served to expand the already existing bridges between the two communities, in order to guarantee the functionality of the skatepark, alongside its visual integrity.



At the heart of this partnership was a generous donation of appropriate paints by national manufacturer and distributor CIN, which replied to the not-for-profit Association’s appeal to return the skatepark to its legitimate owners: the general public; while at the same time promoting good practices of citizenship, and actions geared towards education, social work and healthy lifestyles.



The close relationship between the cultures of graffiti and skateboarding has always been evident their respective shared spaces, albeit new tendencies – especially in the world of skateboarding - are ushering in a reconfiguration of said relationship in skateparks. As such, the involvement of both new and renowned artists such as SEN, RES, Pierre Levert, SAUK, IODA, SAMIRO, PORS (among others), was central to the execution of what is the first of several stages of a long-term project focusing on reconciling the wellbeing of skatepark users with the elevation of the artistic legitimacy of local artists.

WallRide, the pioneer skateboarding association in the Algarve, aims at continuing the expansion of its infrastructure rehabilitation work, in either Faro, or wherever needed; while also continuing its education of future generations through its Skate School, as well as the protection and support of minorities through its Community and South Girl Skate Departments.