Godejam and shared learning
Godella Council’s account of Godejam in September 2022 identifies Xemayo as the driving force behind the festival. Organising an event around graffiti, music and participation extends his practice beyond individual murals.
In December 2025, Valencia Council documented another educational collaboration with Mawe: a mural honouring firefighters’ rescue dogs in Montolivet, with pupils from Liceo Corbí taking part in an accompanying workshop.
From drawing to spray painting
Xemayo brings together mural painting and education. In a December 2023 interview with AQUÍ, the Valencian artist recalled drawing from childhood and turning to graffiti while living in Almería in December 2008.
He described figurative realism as a continuing interest, developed through increasingly refined technique. Giving a recognisable subject a particular character matters more to him than reproducing detail for its own sake.
A violet door in Xirivella
In Xirivella, Xemayo and Nacho Mawe created a mural inspired by Rozalén’s song La puerta violeta. À Punt reported its completion in December 2022 opposite the Casa de la Dona on Avinguda del Túria. The composition shows a woman breaking free from chains and passing through a violet door towards an open landscape.
Its subject gives figurative painting a clear social purpose: the image addresses violence and inequality through an immediately readable scene of release. The work belongs to both artists; it is a collaboration, not a solo Xemayo mural.
Learning urban art by taking part
In his Meeting of Styles profile, Xemayo describes participatory murals with schools, youth associations and public and private organisations. The educational aim is practical: participants experience urban art by contributing to its making. That work sits alongside mural interventions across the Valencian region, Spain and elsewhere in Europe.
His 2023 interview connects the practice with the Let’s Grow association and Grow Up art group, sharing hip-hop disciplines and values. Conversations with passers-by also matter to him: painting in public creates opportunities for exchange before the wall is finished.
Looking beyond a single portrait
The photograph accompanying this profile shows a Dalí portrait mural attributed to Xemayo in Hildesheim, Germany. Gerd Fahrenhorst photographed it on 1 September 2026. It illustrates the artist’s work beyond Spain; it is not a Valencia location or a portrait of Xemayo himself.
Follow the artist’s linked Instagram account for his own presentation of the work, and use the dated sources below to explore the documented projects. For the broader context, our history of street art in Valencia connects individual practices with the development of the city’s scene.
Official links
Sources
- Ajuntament de Godella: Godejam 2022: council acknowledgement of the organiser (opens in a new tab)
- Ajuntament de València: Joint mural and pupil workshop honouring rescue dogs in Montolivet (opens in a new tab)
- AQUÍ — Fernando Torrecilla: Xemayo interview: El movimiento genera movimiento (opens in a new tab)
- Meeting of Styles: Xemayo: artist’s account of mural practice and participatory projects (opens in a new tab)
- Valencia CF: Cullera mural: joint attribution and project context (opens in a new tab)
- Valencia CF: Valencia CF urban-art route: artists and documented mural locations (opens in a new tab)
- À Punt: Xirivella mural inspired by La puerta violeta: completion report (opens in a new tab)
- Gerd Fahrenhorst / Wikimedia Commons: Dalí mural by Xemayo in Hildesheim: photograph and CC BY 4.0 licence (opens in a new tab)
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