Over 50 artists from around the world have set up camp on the streets of Little Italy and have begun creating works of art with chalk this weekend. The Madonnari Festival is food, of course, music, and magnificent works of art in chalk. The festival runs beginning Friday through Sunday from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m.

The artists are here to create and compete. By Sunday, what starts as a sketch or an idea turns into an image. This year’s theme is respect. Flavio, from Florence, Italy, is creating an image of the children who mine for Coltan in the Congo. A Haitian artist will recreate this photo from Syria in chalk.