Projects I love: El Cerro

​Artist Chemi Rosado Seijo offered a whimsical answer to a Puerto Rican city's problems stemming from unemployment. Rather than focusing on crime or the deteriorating streets, he looked at the way the houses were in harmony with the hillside and allowed that to inspire the project. He approached the owners and asked if he could paint their houses various shades of green. Initially some were reluctant, but mesmerized by the completed houses they too soon agreed and as a community repainted the image of the town. Conversation shifted away from the issues that largely dominated the press and became a conversation about what the community accomplished together.