Barcelona is a city that can’t be separated from its art–you might picture Gaudí architecture, Picasso paintings, or flamenco and jazz spilling onto the streets and into the night. But there’s another art scene that’s breaking into the mainstream from the margins–led by the city’s street vendors, known as manteros. Listen to how this group of people, often immigrants without legal protections or rights to work in Spain, fought to form a union to gain the voice they needed, and ended up creating a global and people-centered fashion-label that highlights human rights in the process.This episode originally aired July 28, 2022.For a chance to give your own TED Talk, fill out the Idea Search Application: ted.com/ideasearch.Interested in learning more about upcoming TED events? Follow these links:TEDNext: ted.com/futureyouTEDSports: ted.com/sportsTEDAI Vienna: ted.com/ai-viennaTEDAI San Francisco: ted.com/ai-sf Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Full Episode
Hey, TED Talks Daily listeners. I'm Elise Hugh. Today, we're bringing you another Sunday Pick, where we share an episode of another podcast from the TED Audio Collective, handpicked by us for you. When I hear Barcelona, I immediately think of the vivid colors and the whimsical lines and shapes of Gaudi's architecture, Picasso's paintings. and flamenco music and dance.
But there's another art scene in this famous Spanish city that's breaking into the mainstream from the margins. In this episode of our podcast, Far Flung, host Salim Rashamwala introduces us to Barcelona's street vendors known as Monteros, who are bringing a political twist to the art of streetwear.
Listen to how this group of people, often immigrants without legal protections or rights to work in Spain, fought to form a union to gain the voice they needed. and ended up creating a global and people-centered fashion label that highlights human rights in the process. To hear more unique ideas and stories from around the globe, check out Far Flung, available wherever you get your podcasts.
Now on to the episode, right after a quick break.
So I'm watching this streetwear brand commercial. It starts with a guy running on the beach and some inspirational quotes from a narrator. Believe in yourself. If you want it, go and take it.
Just do it.
And then it takes one of the harder turns I've ever seen in a commercial to reveal that he is running on the beach toward a boat full of people who look distressed. It looks like a migration situation and there is a new narrator who is now visible. She's a black woman in a room full of other black people. She's saying, life is not a sneaker commercial. We know the race is full of traps.
We didn't come here in search of a dignified life for us and for our loved ones. We came here to change the rules of the game, to make them fairer for everyone. Because it's not just about doing it, but doing it right. This brand, Topmanta, it's unlike any other streetwear brand I've come across. Take a streetwear brand like, say, Supreme.
which started in a small 1990s New York City storefront and was marketed with counterculture messaging. Right now, it's actually a big player in a huge multimillion-dollar industry. Meanwhile, in Barcelona, a group of street vendors who'd been selling goods on sidewalks have found a way to double down on streetwear's outsider roots, birthing this brand known as Top Manta.
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