Chicha Street

Chicha Street is the first solo UK exhibition of Peruvian artist Elliot “Tupac” Urcuhuaranga, showcasing his handmade posters and customized traditional objects rooted in Chicha art — a bold, neon-infused visual style tied to Peru’s working-class, Indigenous, and migrant communities.

Elliot Tupac, born in Lima to parents from Huancayo in the central Andes, draws from his family legacy of sign painting. His father was one of the pioneers behind the Chicha poster, which emerged in the 1980s as vibrant street advertisements for Chicha music — a fusion of Amazonian cumbia, rock, and Andean styles like huayno. 

The posters found on this mural advertise concerts and festivals from the Chicha Peruvian movement. They were crafted by screenprinting fluorescent colors on black backgrounds with hand-cut paper stencils that visually echo Quechua Wanka textiles.

These typographic artworks became a loud and proud urban expression of migrant identity. Chicha art gave voice to displaced communities through its explosive color and intriguing typography during a time of social revolution when terrorism in the Andes forced mass migration to Lima.

The Chicha aesthetic continues to be a powerful form of visual resistance, cultural celebration, and ethnic affirmation, with Elliot's work playing an essential role in Peru’s evolving urban identity and graphic design language.