May 21, 2025

27. Ximena Jiménez Creates Striking Murals with Spray Paint

1 hour 33 minutes

For the season 4 premiere we talk to lettering legend and muralist Ximena Jiménez. Born in Cali, Colombia, she moved to Argentina in 2014 to study graphic design in Buenos Aires where she fell in love with hand-lettering. Today she creates lettering for brands, paints murals for cafés and restaurants, gives workshops across the globe, and live-paints on jackets at festivals. Her lettering work is raw, dynamic, expressive and immediate while effortlessly conveying important messages about equality, self-care and mental health.

After moving to Bogotá—one of the graffiti capitals of the world—she discovered street art and started experimenting with spray cans. Ximena explains how the city has influenced her work as a muralist and gives us a detailed description of her process of creating her signature large-scale, hand-lettered murals using spray paint. Hint: “caps” and “cutting” are a thing, apparently.

Throughout the conversation Ximena reflects on the importance of political and personal messages in her art and how she has gained more confidence through therapy and self-reflection. She describes the balance between personal and political art and the value of giving herself permission to take risks. Lastly, Ximena generously shares her social media strategy of focusing on her community rather than viral content to maintain her artistic integrity.

Go check out this engaging conversation with one of the best letterers of our time and make sure to tell all your type-obsessed friends about it!

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MENTIONED LINKS:

• Berlin Letters Festival
• University of Buenos Aires: Faculty of Architecture, Design and Urbanism
• Fileteado Porteño (Argentinian sign-painting style)
• Bogotá Graffiti Tour
• LetterWest 2026
• Circus Network (Gallery from Porto, Portugal)