The wall all Street Art Connaisseurs must see is in Graça.

OBEY in behind Lisbon's most iconic wall in Graça.

Street Art - VHILS and Shepard Fairy creating Lisbon's most popular wall.

VHILS and Shepard Fairy creating Lisbon’s most popular street art wall. We blog about that and music, art, cultural events etc. and out take on the guide books picks.

In 2017, Shepard Fairey, the legendary creator of OBEY, showcased his work at Underdogs Gallery in Marvila, during his first major exhibition in Portugal.

While the exhibition itself may have faded from public memory, the murals he created during his visit to Lisbon have gradually attained iconic status, particularly the two located in Graça. Together they helped cement the neighbourhood as one of Lisbon’s essential stops for anyone seriously interested in contemporary urban art.

The “secret Obey wall” with Vhils

The collaborative piece with VHILS, tucked away at Rua da Senhora da Glória 39, has become a hidden gem among street art enthusiasts.

This mural, featuring a woman’s face split between Fairey’s graphic language and Vhils’ carved, textural style, is read by many as a visual metaphor for shared humanity that transcends borders and backgrounds. Half of the portrait is built up through Fairey’s trademark red‑and‑black stencil and propaganda aesthetics, while the other half is literally carved out of the wall in Vhils’ signature chiseled relief, allowing the building itself to become part of the artwork.

No wonder this piece has earned the moniker “the secret Obey wall” within the street art community, and often appears in specialist street art guides and tours of Lisbon.

The first aim of phenomenology is to reawaken a sense of wonder about one’s environment. The obey sticker attempts to stimulate curiosity and bring people to question both the sticker and their relationship with their surroundings.

Shepard Fairey MANIFESTO

Peace Guard watching over Graça

Street art by Vhils & Shepard Fairey in Graça, Lisbon

Lisbon’s Most iconic Wall. By Shepard Fairey in Graça, Lisbon’s best Urban Art Neighborhood. In 2024 the gallery changed the color from revolutionary RED to a horrible blue color

In contrast, Fairey’s solo mural on Rua Natália Correia stands as a prominent tribute to Portugal’s Carnation Revolution.

Often referred to as “Peace Guard”, it depicts a woman in a revolutionary beret holding a machine gun with a carnation blooming from the barrel – a direct nod to the peaceful military coup of 25 April 1974, when protesters placed carnations in soldiers’ guns instead of firing shots. The red carnation is not just a national symbol; in Fairey’s visual vocabulary it connects Portugal’s revolution to global histories of protest, from Vietnam War demonstrations where flowers were placed in rifle barrels to broader anti‑war imagery. The female figure herself echoes the strong, idealised protagonists that run through his work – part resistance fighter, part guardian, watching over the entrance to the neighbourhood.

The mural’s impact is significant, as it’s the first sight that greets visitors entering Graça from Alfama and Santa Apolónia. Rising above the traffic and tram lines, it acts almost like a gateway poster, following you visually as you continue up towards Sapadores. Even as the wall slowly weathers, the composition remains powerful: bold concentric patterns, star motifs and ornamental borders frame the central figure, amplifying the message in the same way political posters once did on city walls. This artwork stands as perhaps one of the most impressive and powerful peace manifestations in Portugal’s street art scene, serving as a constant reminder of the country’s revolutionary history and the enduring power of non‑violent protest.

From OBEY stickers to Lisbon landmarks.

Obama’ HOPE poster, Fairey’s commercial break through

Street art enthusiasts recognise Shepard Fairey for his “OBEY” campaign – originally a subversive sticker featuring wrestler André the Giant that grew into a worldwide guerrilla project designed to make people question power and visual propaganda in public space.

Although Fairey first built his OBEY cult following through this underground sticker campaign, it was his 2008 Obama “HOPE” poster that propelled him into global mainstream recognition and firmly linked his work to contemporary political iconography.

In Lisbon, that same language of graphic posters and slogans is translated into large‑scale murals that speak to local stories rather than global branding.

Seen together, the collaboration with Vhils on Rua da Senhora da Glória and the “Peace Guard” / “Revolution Girl” on Rua Natália Correia form a kind of open‑air diptych: one wall celebrating cross‑cultural identity and artistic dialogue, the other honouring Portugal’s own revolution with a universal message of resistance, memory and peace.

Both walls are MUST SEE for Street Art Lovers

/Thomas