Six new giant murals have transformed the neighbourhood of Argana Baja in Arrecife as part of the latest edition of Lanzarote's Desidia urban art festival.

The completed works have now become part of the neighbourhood's streetscape following the third edition of the festival, which brought together artists from Japan, Uruguay and the Canary Islands.

This year's project was entitled El aljibe. Memoria subterránea, or The Cistern: Underground Memory, and takes inspiration from Lanzarote's historic relationship with water.

Before modern water supplies, structures including underground sewers and traditional reservoirs played an essential role in storing scarce rainfall on the island.

That history has been used as the theme for the new murals, connecting Lanzarote's traditional methods of collecting and preserving water with ideas surrounding memory, identity and experiences that can remain hidden beneath the surface.

The participating artists are Keeenue from Japan, Nulo from Uruguay and Canarian artists Luismi Sánchez, Cristina Reyes, Kant and JUIN.

Rather than being confined to a gallery, their work has been painted directly onto large walls around Argana Baja, creating six permanent pieces of public art.

The project is promoted by the Desidia collective, with support from Arrecife council, the Cabildo of Lanzarote and La Graciosa and the island's Centres for Art, Culture and Tourism.

The mural programme formed part of a wider festival held earlier this month which also included workshops, talks and a guided route through the completed artworks.

The six finished murals were officially presented today, giving Arrecife another collection of large-scale public artworks while highlighting an aspect of Lanzarote's history that remains particularly important on an island where water has always been a scarce resource.