Chota 13: The Artist Who Gave Comuna 13 Its Face

If you've seen a photo of Comuna 13 — on Instagram, in a travel blog, on the cover of a guidebook — chances are you're looking at a Chota 13 mural. The large, expressive faces with oversized eyes. The bright colors layered over rough brick walls. The figures that stare directly at you, part accusation, part invitation. These are the images that made Comuna 13 internationally recognizable, and they were all painted by a man who grew up on these same streets.

From the Neighborhood, For the Neighborhood

John Alexander Serna was born and raised in the Independencias I sector of Comuna 13. He started painting on neighborhood walls as a teenager — not for tourists, not for galleries, but for his community. In the early 2000s, when armed groups controlled the hillside and the government launched military operations to retake it, making art on public walls was an act of defiance.

"In the past, the value of what I did wasn't noticed," Serna told El Malpensante magazine in 2019. "I just made graffitis for the neighbourhood; almost no one saw them, only the community." Everything changed when the outdoor escalators were installed in 2011. Suddenly, thousands of people were riding through the neighborhood daily, and the murals that had been invisible became impossible to ignore.

The Signature Style

Chota 13's most recognizable element is faces. Large, round, emotionally direct faces painted in flat, saturated colors against dark or muted backgrounds. The eyes are always oversized — wide and unblinking, as if the subject is witnessing something you haven't seen yet. There's a folk art quality to the proportions that makes the work feel both naive and deeply intentional.

Many of his murals incorporate specific symbols: birds representing freedom, plants growing through cracks representing resilience, tears on faces representing the disappeared. These aren't abstract design choices — each element references a specific event or loss in the neighborhood's history. Without a guide or context, they look decorative. With context, they're memorials.

Key Works to Find

The Operation Orion memorial mural at the top of the escalator system is his most photographed piece. It depicts an Afro-Colombian girl next to a weeping figure, surrounded by plants growing through destruction. This mural specifically commemorates the 2002 military operation that killed civilians and displaced thousands of families.

His "Mi Comuna" piece — a simple text statement reading "My Community" — appears near the base of the escalators and is one of the first murals visitors encounter. What seems like a basic label is actually a statement of ownership: this is our neighborhood, not your photo opportunity.

Throughout the escalator corridor and beyond, smaller Chota 13 faces appear on walls, posts, and surfaces. Some are fresh; others are faded and partially covered by newer work. Finding them is like a scavenger hunt that reveals how deeply one artist's vision has permeated the physical landscape of an entire neighborhood.

Beyond the Tourist Corridor

Chota 13's most personal work isn't on the main escalator route. It's deeper in the neighborhood — on the walls of houses, community centers, and schools where he still paints for the people who live there. Guided tours occasionally include these off-route works, but most tourists never see them. If you can, ask your guide specifically about Chota 13's community murals. They're smaller, more intimate, and often more powerful than the large-format pieces on the tourist trail.

Serna continues to live and work in Comuna 13. He hasn't relocated to a studio in Poblado or started selling gallery prints (though his work would easily sell). That choice — to stay rooted in the community that shaped his art — is itself a statement about what Comuna 13's street art means. It's not an aesthetic trend. It's a record of lived experience, painted by someone who lived it.