Inspired by the colorful and often subversive murals he saw while visiting Cartagena, Colombia, in 2023, anthropology major Ben Andreesen returned two years later, using street art as a lens to try to understand the vast economic, historic, and social differences between the touristy historic center and its much poorer urban periphery.

“I really wanted to focus on local artists,” he says—and not on the more established muralists with resources to win approval within the city walls. “These artists are providing an alternative visual story, about their history of marginalization.”

A $5,000 Dean’s ASPIRE Grant—awarded to Krieger undergraduates pursuing original research—gave him time to get to know the artists.

“I went to their houses,” he says. “I went to art exhibitions. I talked with people in the communities they painted in. I did that for about three months.”

He’s now turning his observations—and the photos he took on film—into his senior thesis.