There are new murals by street artist WiseTwo on Amani Village Traders at Refreshment Outpost, a.k.a. Africa Outpost in EPCOT.
Amani Village Traders Murals
The murals are on the doors of the shop, which has been shuttered for quite a while.
Guests have been able to watch Bhupi Jethwa, a.k.a. WiseTwo, paint the murals during the day for the past week.
Most of the tribal masks around Refreshment Outpost were removed in 2021 but more were removed earlier this year and Disney added new signs to the building.
The colorful murals feature people with traditional African imagery, patterns, and flowers.
The murals on the doors suggest the building won’t be open as an actual shop anytime soon, but they add more color and character to the pseudo-pavilion.
Stanchions were up around the murals while WiseTwo finished working.
WiseTwo is based in Nairobi, Kenya. The self-given name WiseTwo is “a breakdown from the word wisdom but still humble hence the two, in reference to ‘not everyone can be the Wise One.’” In 2012, WiseTwo began traveling the world.
“My artwork takes a critical view of social and cultural issues,” WiseTwo states on his website. “Often referencing ancient civilisations and the invisible connection between people and cultures, through intricate colour palettes and symmetrical shapes and forms that create a universe of masks. Having engaged subjects as diverse as ancient languages, scripts, shamanic mask rituals and dying tribes, my work reproduces familiar visual and aural signs, arranging them into new conceptually layered murals and paintings. While I use a mix of acrylic, ink and spray paint in my artistic processes my methodology is consistent. During research and production new areas of interest arise and lead to the next body of work.”
How do you feel about the new murals? Let us know in the comments.
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His artwork is beautiful, but seems highly out of place in Epcot where pavilions represent elements of the classic culture of each country, but in a way that takes them outside of a particular time. In the unclaimed “Adventure Outpost” area, I guess this really doesn’t make too much difference other than being a bit jarring from the overall experience as guests pass by, but I would hope they don’t end up with graffiti artists from other countries tagging other pavilions.