The Eye

Rio Commissioned 13 Artists to Create Its Official Olympics Posters

Official Olympics posters have been around since the 1912 Games in Stockholm. Selected by the Organising Committee, they are meant to embody the spirit of the host country and live on as souvenirs once the games are over. But if countries typically settle on a single image to represent their turn hosting the games, Brazil commissioned 13 official posters for the Rio de Janeiro Games by a diverse roster of 12 Brazilian artists and one Colombian to showcase its diversity.

“It’s really hard for us in Brazil to choose one artist to represent the Olympic Games, or represent the official posters,” Rio Olympics director of culture Carla Camurati told the Associated Press at the unveiling. “The important thing for us and the Olympic Games is to show Brazil as it is, with the colors, with the brightness, with the beauty of the mixture of people that we have here; the mixture of roots that we have.”

Brazilian artists Alexandre Mancini, Antônio Dias, Beatriz Milhazes, Claudio Tozzi, Ana Clara Schindler, Gringo Cardia, Gustavo Greco, Gustavo Piqueira, Guto Lacaz, Juarez Machado, Kobra and Rico Lins and Colombian Olga Amaral created the disparate visuals, each offering a singular interpretation of iconic symbols such as the Olympic rings and torch, abstract art, idealized images of the sea, and more.

The original posters are currently on display at Deodoro Olympic Park, and they will be hung in schools once the games are over. Read more about the history of Olympics posters here.

See more of Slate’s Olympics coverage.