Neoplatonic Dream: When a School Wall Becomes a Public Blackboard

Our Lower Secondary students painted a collaborative mural with street artist Zentequerente and learned that art can transform the spaces we share.

“Guys, you’re supposed to paint the wall, not yourselves!”

This was, by far, the most repeated phrase of the day. And perhaps, in its own playful way, it captured the very spirit of the experience: an afternoon in which the boundary between art, learning and life dissolved into colour, laughter and shared effort.

Our Lower Secondary 1 and 3 students at H-FARM International School Rosà had the chance to bring a collaborative mural to life together with the artist Zentequerente (Luca Vallese), continuing the journey started with The Wallà project, a path that is teaching us to read Street Art not as mere decoration, but as a critical tool: an art form capable of transforming the way we inhabit our shared spaces.

A wall, a story, a school

The artwork is titled “Neoplatonic Dream”, and it tells the story of an encounter between a sage (a modern Plato in the form of a gorilla) and his young student. The student gazes with wide eyes at the world unfolding around him: nature blossoming, planets dancing, and the five Platonic solids holding the ancient secrets of the elements: fire, air, water, earth and cosmos.

And then, high above the scene, a star. The sage’s finger points to it, because that is where he wants to guide the young one’s gaze. It is the oldest and simplest promise in the world: those who are curious, those who have the courage to seek the mystery of life, will always find the light.

Beyond the brush

What makes a project like this meaningful goes far beyond the final image on the wall. Street Art, when approached with the right sensibility, becomes a true exercise in perception and citizenship. It teaches young people to look at the city and at school not as a passive backdrop, but as a living, layered space that can be read, questioned and reshaped.

By painting together, our students experienced something that no textbook could fully convey: that a wall can be a public blackboard, on which a community writes, erases and rewrites its own story. They learned that creativity is rarely a solitary act, and that beauty often emerges from collaboration, mess and trust.

Gratitude

A heartfelt thank you to our art teacher Simone Ceschin, for envisioning and organising this initiative, and to Zentequerente, for guiding our students with generosity, vision and patience.

The mural now lives on one of the walls of our school: a quiet, daily reminder that curiosity is the first step toward the light. 🌟