The 2026 Second Annual International Mural Challenge is a global public art and advocacy initiative organized by Aidez Nous à Aider that brings together artists, migrant communities, grassroots organizations, and human rights networks to create public conversations around migration, displacement, border violence, and human dignity through mural art.
The project uses art as a tool to humanize migration realities while encouraging dialogue within local communities and across international networks. Through murals created in different countries, the challenge amplifies lived experiences, encourages public engagement, and strengthens collaboration between organizations working directly with migrants and refugees.
As part of the 2026 challenge, ANA is collaborating with organizations including Border Violence Monitoring Network, Community Rights in Greece, Association des Migrants Solidaires d’Afrique, Statewatch, and UNITED for Intercultural Action to help connect artistic expression with lived experiences and ongoing advocacy work surrounding migration and border policies.
Guidelines for Artists
The 2026 Second Annual International Mural Challenge invites artists from around the world to create public murals responding to migration, displacement, and illegal pushbacks. These guidelines outline the framework of participation and ensure that all works contribute to a shared international dialogue grounded in respect, accuracy, and human dignity.
The theme of the 2026 challenge is illegal pushbacks and border violence. Artists are invited to explore this theme in relation to broader migration realities, including displacement, asylum systems, human rights, and the experiences of people on the move. Interpretation is open, and artists may respond through symbolic, abstract, narrative, or documentary approaches.
Artists may choose to request the inclusion of migrant testimonies as part of their mural concept. These testimonies are collected separately through the project’s documentation process and are made available online for context and inspiration. This element is optional and intended to connect public artwork with lived experiences in a responsible way.
Artistic Freedom
Artists retain full creative freedom in how they respond to the theme. There are no restrictions on style or medium. The challenge welcomes a wide range of approaches including realism, abstraction, illustration, typography, and mixed media. All selected murals must be documented and submitted as part of the challenge archive.
Required documentation includes:
- Incorporate our symbol
The official symbol must be included in your mural. You are free to adapt it into your creative design, but the colors of our symbol must remain the same to preserve its meaning and recognition. - Location
Artists may paint their mural anywhere they are located—from community walls to studios, schools, or public spaces. Choose a spot that carries meaning and visibility for your community. - Documentation
Each participant must submit:- High-quality photos of the finished mural.
- A short video (optional but encouraged) showing the process or the story behind the artwork.
DEADLINE IS DECEMBER 18TH, 2026 – INTERNATIONAL MIGRANTS DAY
Purpose of the Challenge
The International Mural Challenge is a global initiative using public art to create visibility around migration and border violence. By connecting artists across countries, the challenge builds a shared visual language that encourages reflection, dialogue, and solidarity across borders. The 2026 edition focuses on illegal pushbacks. Pushbacks refer to situations where migrants or refugees are forced back across borders without access to asylum procedures or legal protection. In many cases, people are denied the right to have their claim for safety properly assessed, which can leave them exposed to danger or unsafe conditions.
Pushbacks are widely documented as a serious violation of international protection standards, including the principle of non-refoulement, which prohibits returning people to places where they may face harm. This challenge focuses on pushbacks to highlight what is often hidden from public view and to bring human experiences into public space through art.
Partner Organizations
Community Partnerships & Local Impact
This project actively connects participating artists with local community organizations in each location. These partnerships help ground the murals in local realities, ensuring the artwork reflects lived experiences, strengthens dialogue, and creates meaningful social impact beyond public space.
Community Rights in Greece plays a key role in connecting the 2026 Second Annual International Mural Challenge with grassroots organizations and local communities in Greece working directly on migration and displacement issues.
Their involvement helps strengthen relationships between participating artists and communities on the ground, ensuring the project stays connected to local realities rather than existing only at an international level.
They also support coordination with migrant groups and partner organizations in Greece, helping to facilitate engagement, dialogue, and participation in the challenge. This strengthens the link between lived experiences in Greece and the wider international network of artists and organizations involved in the project.
Association des Migrants Solidaires d’Afrique (AMSA) supports the 2026 Second Annual International Mural Challenge by helping connect the project with migrant communities and grassroots organizations across Morocco and other African countries.
Their role focuses on outreach, participation, and relationship-building with migrant-led groups and artists who may contribute to the challenge through murals, testimonies, or community engagement.
AMSA also helps facilitate connections with individuals and organizations working directly with migrants, strengthening the project’s regional reach and ensuring that voices from African migration routes are included in the wider international conversation.
Border Violence Monitoring Network (BVMN) supports the 2026 Second Annual International Mural Challenge by providing access to verified migrant testimonies and field documentation related to pushbacks and border violence.
These materials help artists better understand lived experiences and ensure that mural concepts are grounded in real, documented accounts rather than abstract ideas. Artists may request selected testimonies to inform their work in an ethical and responsible way.
BVMN also helps connect individual experiences to broader patterns of border practices, strengthening the factual and human rights context behind the project.
Statewatch plays a key role in providing factual and policy-based context for the 2026 Second Annual International Mural Challenge.
Through its research and reporting on migration systems, border enforcement, and EU policies, Statewatch helps ensure that participating artists have access to reliable information about the legal and institutional frameworks surrounding pushbacks.
This includes documentation of relevant laws, border practices, and identified human rights concerns or policy breaches. Their contribution helps ground the artistic work in accurate structural context, supporting a more informed and responsible interpretation of migration and border violence in the murals.
UNITED for Intercultural Action is a European anti-racist network working against racism, discrimination, and exclusion, in solidarity with migrants, refugees, and minorities.
For the 2026 International Mural Challenge, UNITED connects public art with its work on Europe’s border policies, including the UNITED List of Refugee Deaths documenting people who have died trying to reach or remain in Europe.
Its 2026 campaign, “The Pact is here. So are we”, provides tools to respond to the EU Pact on Migration and Asylum, including resources, organisations, and ideas for using art for remembrance, empathy, and action.
Artists are encouraged to use these resources, connect with local migrant-support organisations, and make murals part of wider community conversations on dignity, protection and solidarity.
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Judges
T.K. Mills is the Editor-in-Chief of UP Magazine, a New York City publication focused on street art and urban culture. With a Master’s in Global Affairs, he entered the graffiti world after backpacking through Cuba, which shifted his perspective toward art and storytelling. Over the past decade, he has built strong ties with major brands and curated over 300 exhibitions, conducted hundreds of interviews, published eight books, and contributed essays to street art photography collections.
SEVEN is a muralist, illustrator and graphic artist native to Chattanooga, Tennessee.
He is a graduate of the American Intercontinental University of Atlanta, GA with a Bachelors Degree in Fine Arts. As the founder and creative director of the Burnin’ Bridges Street Art Project, SEVEN continually makes artistic contributions to the
community and strives to make an inspiring impact with his murals in Chattanooga and around the world, while helping to develop a cultural awareness and an appreciation for street art as a relevant and empowering art form in today’s society.
Albert Guarch is the PR and Culture Manager at MTN, the leading brand in the spray paint sector for graffiti. He has been part of the company almost since its foundation, dedicating 29 years to its growth and international expansion. Throughout his career, Albert has focused on connecting the brand with artists and cultural movements, building bridges between creativity, community, and innovation.
Manuel Gerullis is a graffiti artist, curator, and cultural promoter from Wiesbaden. He is the founder and leading force behind the global graffiti and street art festival Meeting of Styles, launched in 2002. Through his work, Gerullis has helped expand urban art internationally, creating spaces for artists worldwide to connect, collaborate, and promote creative freedom and cultural exchange..
Jean Widler Pierresaint is a Haitian urban art consultant and advocate for street and contemporary art in Haiti. In 2015, he founded Kolektif Basquiat (later CPAUAC) and launched Festi Graffiti Haïti, the country’s first international street art festival. He has collaborated with global artists like Fintan Magee and Zabou, as well as NGOs and cultural institutions. In 2020, he created Street Art au Féminin to support women in street art and promote creativity as a tool for social change.
Support the 2026 International Mural Challenge by making a donation today. Your contribution helps us expand the reach of the project, support participating artists, and bring powerful migrant-led stories into public spaces around the world. Every donation helps us spread the word further, amplify migrant voices, and ensure the message of the campaign reaches wider audiences through art and storytelling. Donations over $25 are eligible for a tax receipt.