On Monday, Barcelona Femeni player Aitana Bonmati scooped the coveted Ballon d’Or award, and in honour of the achievement, street artist TVBoy has created a mural of the midfielder at the intersection of Avenida Diagonal and Passeig de Gràcia, Barcelona.
TVBoy has popped up on our radar in the past for his urban street art, which in the past has featured one Lionel Messi. Well this time the focus is not on the eight-time Ballon d’Or winner, but rather on his contemporary, Aitana Bonmati, who scooped the women’s Ballon d”Or award on Monday night.
In the mural, Bonmati is dressed in the Barcelona kit, with her back turned, looking over her shoulder. On her back, in place of a traditional name and number set, is the phrase “Believe in yourself!”, while at her feet is the Golden ball – a nod to the award she picked up on Monday.
Bonmati won four titles in the 2022/23 season: the League, the Champions League, the Super Cup and the World Cup. In addition, in both the Champions League and the World Cup, she was recognised as the best player of the tournament. Individually, she scored 14 goals, while providing 17 assists with Barça, and three goals and two assists with the Spanish national team at the World Cup.
As well as Bonmati, TVBoy has also painted another Ballon d’Or winner from the Barcelona Femeni side, depicting Alexia Putellas as Superwoman, wearing a Barcelona shirt with an "A" in a heart on the chest like a superhero crest, along with a red cape. The background is lilac to represent feminism and features the slogan "follow your dreams”. This mural is located in the Barcelona neighbourhood of Gràcia, and the location previously featured a different TVBoy mural, of Argentine footballer Diego Maradona, painted after his death. TVBoy had painted Maradona as "half saint, half devil" to reflect his issues, but said that when he learned more of Maradona's controversies he wanted to replace it with artwork honouring a woman, and that he “thought it was a good message that this time a woman was the champion, the star.”
Check out more of TVBOY's work here.
