The picturesque village of Staro Zhelezare nestled in Bulgaria’s Sredna Gora Mountain hosts the traditional StreetArt ‎Festival 2022, which will last until August 12. This year, the team of young artists from Poland and Bulgaria is preparing murals under the motto "WE ARE THE HEROES". The characters drawn on the walls of Staro Zhelezare comment on the current state of the world and the intentions of the players in the new world order. ‎

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The main plot, of course, is the war in Ukraine. Quite expectedly, Putin and ‎Zelensky stand out in the first line on the rural walls. But not only! In Staro Zhelezare, the billionaires - Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos, rise to the sky with the help of the fictional character Buzz Lightyear from "The Toy Game", and during this time, the writers Olga Tokarchuk and Georgi Gospodinov are looking for the meaning of the current existence, writing down their thoughts in books, referring to the wisdoms of ‎‎…Winnie the Pooh.‎

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What is different about this year's edition of the StreetArt Festival is that artists recreate our chaotic modern times through the images and comments of favorite cartoon characters. Donald Duck, Bugs Bunny, Shrek, The Flintstones, The Simpsons and The Three Fools appear alongside prominent figures, politicians and dictators to ignite the imagination and highlight the absurdity that surrounds us. "Let us, like Alice in Wonderland, use our imagination because it is our only weapon in the fight against reality," urge the artists.‎

Everyone here is welcome to talk with the Bulgarian-Polish creative team, which until the middle of August will be painting new characters on village walls. ‎

Staro Zhelezare is a Bulgarian village where fewer and fewer people live in recent years, as most of them are elderly. In recent months, a mourning agency has appeared on the site of the village grocery store, the organizers note with regret.

However, the village is slowly but surely waking up to a new life. The engine of the unique project, which turned Staro Zhelezare into a world-class street art destination, comes from Poland. For the 10^th year already, the artistic family Katarzhina and Ventsislav Piryankov have breathed life into the small village, not without the enthusiastic support of the local people.‎

• Staro Zhelezare village once again hosts Street Art Village Festival