In the wake of the same-se marriage referendum, one of the most visible aspects of the Yes campaign was the numerous murals and street artworks produced by some of the country’s best known and guerrilla artists. The provocative form of graffiti often polarises public opinion, but street art would typically be regarded as a creative exploit of the young. Now a Portuguese initiative is showing that it’s also for the young at heart.

LATA 65 is a project taking place in Lisbon that hopes to bridge the generation gap in the city’s street artists, and sees pensioners learn how to tag, stencil, and spray paint from a younger artist. Lata 65, which gets its name from the Portuguese for ‘can’ and the age of retirement, then brings the budding artists onto the streets to find a canvas and express themselves, creating murals all across Lisbon.

The group was founded by Lara Seixo Rodrigues in 2012, after she noticed at an urban-art festival that the people most interested in the techniques and materials used in graffiti were pensioners.

“One day I was talking about it with a colleague of mine, and he challenged me to start a workshop for senior citizens,” Rodrigues says. “A fortnight later, we decided to give it a go to see if it could work.

“The main idea to convey an appreciation of graffiti, to look at how it had arrived in Europe, how it derived towards street art, and to understand the techniques and constraints of working on the street.”

Rodrigues says that membership to Lata 65 does a lot for the wellbeing of older people. In the workshops, participants engage their artistic imagination.

“The most important thing is that for the majority, drawing on the walls is like a revelation. They become children again, and it’s a new dynamic way of creating a sense of wellbeing,” Rodrigues says.

“When they’re painting, it’s like a mental escape. They don’t focus on anything else. Don’t forget that here in Portugal, most of us are living through a tough economic crisis. Thanks to the club, our member are rediscovering their smile and their morale, and I rejoice at seeing them feel better.”

The average age of Lata 65’s members is 74, with the oldest street artist in the group a 92-year-old granny.

“Our message is that anyone can do what they want in life, and age is not a handicap,” Rodrigues says.