Sao Paulo, Brazil

Sao Paulo's Vila Madalena neighbourhood contains Beco do Batman — Batman's Alley — a narrow tangle of streets entirely covered in vibrant murals that has become a pilgrimage site for street art fans from around the world. The city is home to Os Gemeos (the Twins), Gustavo and Otavio Pandolfo, whose towering yellow figures appear on facades across the globe, and to Nunca, whose work melds pre-Columbian imagery with urban decay. Sao Paulo's scene emerged as an act of resistance against the city's famous 2006 "Clean City" law that banned outdoor advertising — when the billboards came down, the murals went up.