We know little about Henry. But we do know that he would like to see the Marquês de Pombal and other prime areas of the city without the large political billboards that destroy the urban landscape today: "Take this shit off. We want trees!"
The pandemic of the great billboards politicians seems to have no end in sight. Noble areas of the city like Marquês de Pombal, Campo Pequeno or Alameda are constantly buffeted by these unsightly structures, which continue beyond election periods. It is a problem that nobody seems to want to solve, as we counted in August.
After two intense electoral campaigns - municipal and legislative - one of the great billboards that continues to surround the imposing Marquês de Pombal square was, a few days ago, intervened with a protest message. On its back, it now reads: "The this shit off. We want trees!" ("Get this crap out. We want trees!"in Portuguese). The author of the phrase? Henry, artist living in Lisbon for more than six years - "I am Portuguese at heart. Lisbon with much affection and supported me in my artistic journey"tells us. "I paint the streets and try to give an artistic value to the city through my messages."
Those who are more attentive to the city streets and the respective urban dynamics will have already come across and been intrigued by this question: "Who the fuck is Henry?". The question, which was painted or glued by Lisbonis also the name of a collective that Henry formed with some people "talented" - among "chefs, filmmakers, designers, entrepreneurs, friends, artists, etc...", "from different countries and different cultures" - who share with each other what they know best to create together "fun stuff" in a way "spontaneous".
But Henry also moves solo - there are several projects that it presents on your sitesome of which were carried out with brands such as Cerveja Musa and other guerrilla around the city. In the Marquis, the task was a little different. "The message here is to say that we should not let these politicians/brands destroy the landscape and we should encourage them to use the money to do something better for the city"says. "Planting trees instead of billboards would be nice."
In a series of Instagram Stories, Henry wrote that election periods have made the city's streets uglier and that, "to promote themselves"the politicians "they started creating these billboards and spreading them around town". The problem is not new and goes back at least to 2001 - long before Henry moved to Lisbon - with Santana Lopes in his candidacy for CML. "I care so much about my home - Lisbon - that when I see these fucking billboards polluting the magnificence and charm of our city, I feel I have to use my illegal energy to say what is in my heart."he tells us.
Henry mentions that he has received over 500 messages from people agreeing with what he wrote and that, "without any pretension"thinks that "these small actions can make the difference for a better Lisbon". But . who the fuck is Henry? Who the hell is Henry? Little is known about Henry: the friends say it is "a good guy, just not good at asking permission" - or at least this is what Henry writes on your site.
