"Art and football have the power to change the world," says Lili Cantero. Coming from someone whose work has been admired by Lionel Messi, Diego Maradona, Pelé, and Ronaldinho, that's not a motivational poster quote — it's a career résumé.
The Paraguayan artist has made Miami her base for the past two and a half years, and with the World Cup arriving in South Florida this June, she's gone big. Cantero is placing hand-painted footballs across ten businesses in Wynwood — the warehouse-turned-gallery neighbourhood that functions as Miami's artistic nerve centre — each one depicting a different World Cup moment.
From a viral Messi post to Wynwood's walls
The moment that changed everything came in 2018. Cantero designed a pair of cleats adorned with images of Messi and his family, sent them to the man himself, and Messi posed with them. The photo went everywhere. Overnight, she had the game's most recognisable face as a de facto endorser.
That kind of exposure doesn't happen twice. But Cantero has built steadily on it — FIFA President Gianni Infantino knows her work, as does Jordi Alba, Messi's former Barcelona and Inter Miami teammate. The football world, it turns out, has been paying attention.
The first ball in the Wynwood series was unveiled last week: a piece celebrating Spain's 2010 World Cup triumph. Cantero showed up in a Spain jersey — fully aware, she noted, that Spain eliminated Paraguay on the way to that title. Some footballs take her days. Others take a couple of hours. At the unveiling she worked live, referencing an image of David Villa on a tablet beside her and adding it stroke by stroke to the ball while a crowd gathered to watch.
Why this matters beyond the art world
The timing is deliberate. The World Cup will pull tens of thousands of visitors into South Florida, and Wynwood — which has spent years converting industrial space into cultural destination — wants a share of that footfall. David Lombardi, chairman of the Wynwood Business Improvement District, was direct about it at the unveiling: "It's vibrant, it's changing, it's alive, and people want to be a part of it."
For a neighbourhood built on transformation, a series of football-shaped canvases spread across ten venues is exactly the kind of thing that works. It's accessible, it's tied to a global moment, and it gives casual World Cup tourists a reason to linger.
Cantero grew up in Paraguay being told you can't earn a living through art. She's been proving that wrong from Miami for years now, with footballs as her medium and the game's biggest names as her audience.
"I grew up in Paraguay, and everyone tells me you cannot make a living with art. And now I'm doing this, far away from my country, representing who I am and my roots."
