I found this image an a heavily-painted door somewhere near the Cathedral. This doodle is rather small and reminds me of some of the musings that used to decorate the sides of some of my high school notebooks.
This image is one of several that have been popping up around Gràcia. They all seem to have a political message, but their most distinguishing feature is their size. All of them average the size of a small garage door. Because of their scale, they tend not to last as long as smaller pieces of art, and because of this I try to get as many shots as possible, even if it means interrupting the momentum of my morning runs. I’ve already posted one piece that occupied a wall near the Plaça del Sol, and this one can still be found near one of Gràcia’s most beautiful streets, Carrer Verdi. In the image we can see a group of people trying to lift themselves from under a rather oppressive piece of footwear which has become all too present one the streets of Catalunya and Spain as popular ire continues to rise.
You may remember a previous entry dedicated to the Casal Popular de Gràcia, a youth-run social centre and squat that occupied one of the more visible corners of the neighborhood, Torrent de l’Olla and Ros de Olano. After over 10 years, the city executed an eviction order, and of course faced heavy protest. There have been a handful of small protests since the initial eviction, most notably on the 30th of April, when the city sent an army of 300 gas-masked riot police to secure the neighborhood against the threat of a group of about 100 protestors. The protestors did manage to get some messages onto the grey-painted shutters which once served as the canvas for the pictures I featured on the other “resistance” entries. Translated, the first message reads “An eviction can’t erase dreams. Up with the youth!”
The second and third panels come from a small protest this past Saturday night, the 11th of May, which was also a response to the heavy-handed police reactions to peaceful protest on the 30th. These stencils were painted on one of the common neighborhood targets for the crisis and corruption provoked-ire on the streets: the branch of “La Caixa” in Plaça Diamant. The message reads “Mossos out!” For those unfamiliar, the Mossos d’Esquadra are the autonomous police force here in Catalonia, and the BRIMO, or Mobile Brigade are the riot force which has gained notoriety for several instances of heavy-handed brutality. the BRIMO are the images you see stenciled on the bank windows. The final panel is a message sprayed on the shutter which once had the fiery cat image featured here. The message simply reads, “We’ll be back”
I discovered this piece cutting through the Plaça del Sol, the Grand Place of Gràcia. It had already attracted the attention of about three or four other aficionados, so I had to wait in a queue to get this shot. It was a huge piece as well, about the size of a small garage door. I imagine that it is a message against the gentrification of Gràcia. It was also quite short-lived; I passed by again nearly a week after taking the picture and not a trace of it was to be found.
Just a few hundred metres from my favorite cathedral in Barcelona, the Santa Maria del Mar, and behind the Fossar de les Moreres there’s a small alley that can be used as a shortcut to Barceloneta and the sea. There’s little of great interest, other than some of splotchy tags that can be found in any small Barcelona alleyway, except this little piece, which I think comes from sm172. I think she captures perfectly the feeling we have here in Barcelona when the seasons stop hesitating, and spring finally decides that it’s here to stay.
This afternoon I received an email from someone at Generator Hostels who recently stumbled on my blog and asked me to share with my readers a contest with a fantastic grand prize: A week for you and three friends in my adopted hometown. I don’t think I need to tell anyone how marvellous Barcelona is in the summer. OK, maybe it’s a bit humid, but nothing a shady terrace and a pitcher of sangria can’t cure, or at least make you temporarily forget. And of course, you’ll have the opportunity to see firsthand some of the fantastic images I’ve chronicled here.
While I can’t guaranteee that all, or any of the work you see on this page will be here when you land, there’s sure to be thousands of hidden gems just waiting to be discovered.
Here are the contest details.
Best of luck, and be sure to let me know if you win.
When I first saw and took the photo of this image months ago, my first interpretation was that it was some type of statement about being blind, and because it was stenciled on a page from a magazine (in German, no less) that itwas also making a statement of print media’s effect on its readers. However, I think that this is referring to the practice of blacking out the eyes of people in photos. I’ve always found this a strange practice. After all, if someone has other distinguishing facial features, surely he/she will be recognized. Or maybe not.
And has the magazine-canvas simply been used to increase visibility on an over-painted surface, or is there some deeper meaning?
This will be the baby R2d2′s third appearance on the blog, although he hasn’t evolved since tmnk added the crown, my better camera now allows me to get a clear image of the entire doorway. When this doorway isn’t being blocked by the delivery van that spends most of the morning there, it makes a really interesting addition to this dead-end turn on the way to Plaça Revolució. The newest images are the ghost chained to the increasingly-ubiquitous bombs and the famous yellow popsicle image which can be found at points around the city and metropolitan area. Which one is your favorite?
This wheatpaste design is a recent arrival on a wall full of surprises that can be found just at the border between the Raval and Sant Antoni. Dreadful, grey and looking as if she’s spent years drifting in the cold sea, this girl’s image reminds me of the nasty water spirits like those found in The Grudge. I’m not sure if the blue splotch was plced there by the artist or found its way there later, but I think it adds an element of creepiness.
I received an email a week or two back asking if I would like to have this blog featured on an expat website called Internations. Of course, I jumped at the opportunity, and a questionnaire and croppeed photo later, I found myself with my own feature page, which you can find here. I decided to use this image from artist sm172 as a mini-celebration not only because of blissful, starry background, but also because I think it’s important to credit the artists who make Barcelona more unconventionally spectacular. I simply take the pictures.
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