Jewish Women of Kaunas

Posted on August 29, 2022 by Mary C

Before the second World War, about one quarter of the population of Kaunas LIthuania was Jewish – about 30,000 people. Known in Yiddish as Kovno, it was a city As part of the City Telling Festival (Istoriju Festivalis) in 2020 a couple of large murals were painted in memory of a few of these people. This festival was one of the events leading up to 2022 where Kaunas was one of the “European Capitals of Culture”

below: Leja (or Leah) Goldberg, b. 1911, poet. It was painted by Lithuanian artist Linas Kaziulionis and it measures 15 by 10 meters. The text is one of her poems “Oren” (Pine) written in Hebrew and Lithuanian.

large mural on the side of a building, painted by Linas Kaziulionis, portrait of a woman, Leja Goldberg, a poet born in Lithuania. Text of one of her poems is included in the mural, written in Hebrew on one side and in Lithuanian on the other

Goldberg was the daughter of Abraham and Cilia Goldberg. Her father was an economist at an insurance company before WW1. During the Great War (i.e. WW1), most of the Jews were “evacuated” from Lithuania and sent to the interior of Russia. Lea was three years old when the family was forcibly deported from Kaunas. When they returned after the war and the defeat of Germany, Lea’s father was tortured by Lithuanian soldiers who accused him of being a Communist. He died before Lea emigrated to Palestine in 1935; her mother followed her the next year.

One translation of the poem:

PINE

Here I will not hear the voice of the cuckoo.
Here the tree will not wear a cape of snow.
But it is here in the shade of these pines
my whole childhood reawakens.

The chime of the needles: Once upon a time –
I called the snow-space homeland,
and the green ice at the river’s edge –
was the poem’s grammar in a foreign place.

Perhaps only migrating birds know –
suspended between earth and sky –
the heartache of two homelands.

With you I was transplanted twice,
with you, pine trees, I grew –
roots in two disparate landscapes.

below: Another mural with a poem that was also part of the same festival. It was painted by Tadas Vincaitis-Plūgas. The is mural dedicated to another Jewish family that lived in Kaunas before WW2.

The words are those of Hirsh Ošerovičius (1908-1994) written in 1964. The text is in Lithuanian but one English translation is:

Ah, do you really believe,
Oblivion has the final say in what is to be forgotten?
For it is often only an image from the ashes rising
And stand in flesh, in full reality
Forever framed for every day to come.

large mural of a mother and daughter, Rosian Bagriansky and her mother, painted by Tadas Vincaitis, on the side of a building in Kaunas Lithuania

The mural depicts a mother, Greta, and her daughter Rosian Bagriansky. Rosian was born in 1935 in Kaunas. Her father, Paul (or Polis) Bagriansky, was a textile merchant and her mother was a concert pianist and music teacher. Rosian survived the Holocaust after her parents dug a hole next to the fence of Kaunas Ghetto and pushed Rosian through it and into the hands of one of their former employees, Bronė Budreikaitė. Rosian became Irena Budreikaitė

Kiemo Galerija – Yard Gallery

Posted on August 24, 2022 by Mary C

Back in 2014, Vytenis Jakas decided to turn a residential courtyard into an art gallery.

below: Charlie Chaplin oversees the entrance to the yard. The black plaque above Chaplin’s head is in memory of Juda Zupavicius (1914-1944) who was a lieutenant in the Lithuanian military and a chief on the Kaunas ghetto police force. In 1941 the Jewish residents of this area were forced out and had to relocate to the Kaunas ghetto. Zupavicius was also one of the leaders of the underground resistance during WW2.

street art on a concrete wall, three older women sitting on a bright red bench. Women are wearing grey winter coats, head scarves, and sun glasses. the woman in the middle is knitting

below: The words under the photo of the couple: „Čia 1939 m. – 1941 m. gyveno Dita ir Juda Zupavičiai. Juda buvo vienas iš Kauno geto pogrindžio vadovų, žiauriai nacistų kankintas neišdavė geto vaikų slėptuvių. Dita buvo kovos bendražygė“ (English translation: “Here in 1939 – 1941 lived Dita and Juda Zupavičiai. Juda was one of the underground leaders of the Kaunas ghetto, he was brutally tortured by the Nazis and did not reveal the hiding places of the ghetto children. Dita was a comrade in the struggle”)

street art, three black and white photos of people who used to live in the courtyard. A large artwork of Marcel Marceau in white clown mime clothes, a red tear painted on his face, standing beside a vintage box camera on a tripod

bright yellow shutters on a window, pot of geraniums, red geraniums, beside, an empty flower box below, a painting of a fat brown cat half out the window and half inside

below: Venus probably never had to do the grocery shopping

Yard Gallery

Upon noticing that the neighbours living in the yard had become alienated and had forgotten the common past of the yard, the artist Vytenis Jakas started creating a “Yard Gallery” – a courtyard surrounded by apartment buildings built in the inter-war period. In the past, the yard inhabitants knew each other well, communicated warmly, celebrated holidays together, and supported each other in troublesome times. The yard had a large table, a fountain and a sculpture, the Dapkevicius sisters grew flowers, and lilacs grew near the windows of the neighbour Regina. Over time, the population and the social environment changes, the number of cars increased, and the yard space became too small.

Seeing this situation, Vytenis Jakas, with the help of other artists and neighbours, turned the derelict yard into a centre of attraction, the open air “Yard Gallery”. Various artistic projects are implemented here: Portraits of the Jews who lived in this house before the Holocaust, along with the current residents, characters of various works are painted on the facades of the apartment buildings; mirror mosaics and stained glass windows are created, and community events are organised, with community festivals celebrated together. “

mosaic on a wall, outdoors, made of broken pieces of mirror. reflective

music in the park

Posted on August 18, 2022 by Mary C

There is a large mural on the the side of a school beside a small park (Ernst Lichtblau Park) and playground near the intersection of Einsiedlergasse and Siebenbrunnengasse. Because of the size of the mural as well as all the trees, playground equipment, and caged soccer field in front it, a proper picture of the whole mural was impossible. Instead, I have a series of photos taken from the musician playing the electric guitar depicted on the right to the different instruments on the left.

a woman with a red cap on her head is playing an electric guitar, in a mural on the side of a school in Vienna.

The mural was painted by El Jerrino, a Vienna based artist.

music theme mural on the side of a school by a park in Vienna on Einsiedlergasse

large acoustic guitar in mural on side of school painted by El Jerrino

mural in Ernst Lichtblau Park in Vienna, guitar and mandolin, with playground equipment in front of it

swing set in a playground with mural on the school wall behind, musical instruments in the mural painted by El Jerrino

boxed in Tirana

Posted on August 18, 2022 by Mary C

below: Hippity hipster rabbit with sunglasses and tatts.

painted sidewalk box on a sidewalk in Tirana, a hipster with rabbit head, wearing sunglasses and with tattoos on his arm

below: Sargent Pepper theme, character in green with drums – Ringo Starr from the Beatles.

painted sidewalk box on a sidewalk in Tirana, Sargent Pepper cartoon character in green and playing drums, like Ringo Starr

below: A second Sargent Pepper character but this time it’s George Harrison in yellow. I didn’t see the other Beatles but I wouldn’t be surprised if they are in the city somewhere.

below: A child rides on the back of a white goose as it flies in front of a boat. The boy, in the red hat, is Nils and he has been bewitched by an elf so that he is only a few inches tall. The goose is his transportation and together they have adventures. Nils saves the goose and some ducks from a hungry fox; he also rescues a baby squirrel from a hunter. The Nils books were written in the early 1900s by Selma Lagerlof (Swedish), the first woman to win a Nobel prize in literature.

painted sidewalk box on a sidewalk in Tirana, large white goose flying over a wooden boat

below: Beavis and Butthead from the 1990s animated TV series.

painted sidewalk box on a sidewalk in Tirana, television characters from the 1990s, Beavis and Butthead, sitting on a red couch

below: Green Frankenstein.

painted sidewalk box on a sidewalk in Tirana, portrait of Frankenstein with green face

below: Blue woman with a feather

below: His arms are covered with tattoos but the face has been defaced (or was very strange to begin with?) so I am having trouble figuring out who the character is.

painted sidewalk box on a sidewalk in Tirana,

below: Angry bird on the right, standing beside another hipster rabbit. The words stencilled on the box, “Nidermarrja e Dekorit Bashkia Tirane”, roughly translates to Decoration Enterprise, Tirana Municipality. There is a Dekori – Bashkia Tirane instagram page that features some of the artists whose works are found Tirane.

two painted sidewalk box on a sidewalk in Tirana, the one on the right is a red angry bird from the game

below: Chuck Norris

painted sidewalk box on a sidewalk in Tirana, portrait of man with text that says Chuck Norris counted to infinity twice

below: Quentin Tarantino.

painted sidewalk box on a sidewalk in Tirana, portrait of Quentin Tarantino

below: A tiger growls at the passing traffic

painted sidewalk box on a sidewalk in Tirana, tiger with open mouth

below: An older man with many birds in his beard, inspired by a poem by Edward Lear:
” There was an Old Man with a beard,
Who said, “It is just as I feared!—
Two Owls and a Hen, four Larks and a Wren,
Have all built their nests in my beard.”

painted sidewalk box on a sidewalk in Tirana, man with large grey beard with birds in it

below: A rooster on a cat on a dog on a donkey in the night. This time it is a story that is referenced here, “The Town Musicians of Bremen”. Although the story dates from the 12th century it was first published in 1819 by the Brothers Grimm. It is the tale of 4 older animals no longer useful on their farms who meet up and decide to go to the city of Bremen to be musicians. They never get there but they have other adventures instead (you’ll have to read the story to get the details!)

painted sidewalk box on a sidewalk in Tirana, silhouettes of animals stacked on top of a donkey. A rooster sits at the top. Cat and dog in the middle, night time

below: Another story – here it is Peter Pan and the Darling children, Wendy, John, and Michael, flying off to Never Never Land.

painted sidewalk box on a sidewalk in Tirana, yellow box with black silhouettes of Peter Pan and the three children flying through the sky

below: Bob Marley in front of Hops.

painted sidewalk box on a sidewalk in Tirana, portrait of reggae musician Bob Marley

New Dawn collaboration

Posted on August 16, 2022 by Mary C

New Dawn is the name given to the latest laneway street art mural painting project. It is a celebration of the 10th anniversary of StreetARToronto.

The alley runs parallel to Queen Street West (just west of Ossington); it crosses Brookfield and Fennings streets.

mural part of new dawn project, painting by Nick Sweetman standing on a ladder as he paints bees on the top part of the mural

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The largest mural of the project is a collaboration between five artists: Meagan Kehoe, Kreecha, Bacon, Sight, and Nick Sweetman.

contributions by bacon, a flower, and kreecha, calligraphy designs in white and gold, on a mural

mural, part of, a large cat's head in silver and gold with long whiskers and a gold coloured eye. Cat painted by street artist Bacon and calligraphy by kreecha

mural part of new dawn project, painting in progress by Nick Sweetman

This post also appears on the As I Walk Toronto blog.

Annie and her cow

Posted on August 5, 2022 by Mary C

… and rooster … and tractor.. paintings in Napanee Ontario.

L & A Mutual insurance building in Napanee, once the County Depot with silos for storage. silos have been painted with farm scene

Once used for storage, these silos were painted by Shane Goudreau as part of the redevelopment of the site – from County Depot to insurance company. An excellent way to preserve some of the history of the area.

painted silos, farm scene with old tractor, cow, rooster and female farmer called Annie working with a hoe

painted silos, farm scene with old tractor, cow, rooster and female farmer working with a hoe

a yellow tractor on the roof of L & A Mutual insurance in Napanee, beside old storage silos that have been painted with a farm scene

Spirit Stories under Old Mill

Posted on July 16, 2022 by Mary C

In Toronto, subway tracks cross above the Humber River at Old Mill station. The concrete pillars that support the subway bridge have been covered with many watery blue First Nations themed murals.

Philip Cote Anishinaabe mural of water and spirits on concrete pillar

below: The artist, Philip Cote, described the story behind this image on the ArtworxTO website (see link); like all cultures, the Anishinaabe have an origin story. In the beginning there was just Spirit. “And that spirit decided to send signals out into the universe and waited for a response. And when no response happened that spirit called the signals back and said, “As you come back to me, create light in the universe”. And at that moment they had light and dark in the universe. And that is the beginning of the Anishinaabe cosmology. Everything for Anishinaabe is made of light and dark. Everything we look at has a spirit, everything, the ground, the rocks, the sand, the trees, the birds, the plants, everything is… and even our sun and our Mother Earth and the moon, they all have a spirit.”

The blues of the water, the Humber River, were painted by Kwest. Water is the Underworld in Ahishinaabe cosmology and the Guardians of this Underworld are the fish. Another artist, Jarus aka (Emmanuel Jarus), painted the fish.

Philip Cote Anishinaabe mural of water and spirits on concrete pillar, large grouper fish in the water surrounding the central medallion

Most of the paintings have a well defined circle. This is the boundary between water and earth, between the spirit world and the physical world. But there are connections between the two worlds – all living things are connected and we are all connected to the Spirit World.

Philip Cote Anishinaabe mural of water and spirits on concrete pillar, a mountain of ice in the background

Philip Cote Anishinaabe mural of water and spirits on concrete pillar, a male and a female figure

Philip Cote Anishinaabe mural of water and spirits on concrete pillar, an otter swimming in the water, looking below the surface

Philip Cote Anishinaabe mural of water and spirits on concrete pillar, a turtle shaped animal with a bear head with open mouth trying to catch fish

O Positive Plus

Posted on July 11, 2022 by Mary C

O+ Festival is the name of an annual art, music, and wellness festival in Kingston New York that began in 2010. Most of the murals in this post were painted as part of that festival. But not all of the murals in Kingston are included – my apologies to those left out – but I will be back!

a bright and colorful mural in an alley, large cursive word Kingston with smaller pictures around the letters, two faces in the mural as well

Bright and bold Kingston, but down an alley where it’s hard to see all at once.

the lefthand end of a bright and colorful mural in an alley, large cursive word Kingston with smaller pictures around the letters, only the first 3 letters are visible in this photo, K I and N

large pink female face at the end of a mural in an alley, face ends at the sidewalk of Broadway Ave in Kingston New York, shops and other buildings in the background

street art paintings around the entrance to a business, southwestern theme, cactii

below: This mural was painted by Jess Snow and Jia Sung and is titled “Oh Wind, Take Me to my Country”. It is a portrait of Sudanese poet Safia Elhillo and was inspired by one of her poems.

mural by Jess Snow and Jia Sung in Kingston New York, portrait of a woman with long flowing black hair, a small sailboat in her hair, all on background of watery blues

below: “Late Summer Kill Swim” by Samantha French and Aaron Hauck. Apparently the word ‘kill’ is a reference to the local Hudson Valley swimming holes.

below: “LIfted” by Lindsey Wolkowicz and Dillon Paul, 2018. Women and girls girls working together to lift each other up.

mural on the end of a building showing girls and women of different coloured races helping each other

below: Thorneater Comics painted this sturgeon in 2015.

large mural of a fish, outdoors, in shades of grey

below: “Pretty Nose and Dakota Unity Riders” by LMNOPI (aka Lopi LaRoe). Pretty Nose was an Arapaho woman war chief who participated in the Battle of the Little Bighorn in 1876. It is said that she lived to be 101 years old.

mural, center is first nations portrait surrounded by circles of triangles looking like the rays of the sun, silhouettes of people on horseback on either side

below: “Native Americans Discover Columbus” by Lady Pink

day of the dead themed mural, girl with painted white face and decorations, a baltimore oriole beside her, she has long flowing hair

below: “Shadow Guide/Shadow Self” by Dina Kravtsov and Matthew Schulze, 2018

mural of two people on a bicycle built for two, a tandem bike

below: On one of the exterior walls of Keegan Ales is a mural painted by John Breiner in 2016. “From the Ground Up” has faded a bit over the past few years but there is a photo of it in its former glory on the artist’s website.

mural on an exterior of Keegan Ales, with window and reflections in the middle of the picture, mural painted by

below: Another mural on Keegan Ale buildings – this one was painted by Jack Dishel and Vor138 in 2014.

mural on Keegan Ale exterior, cartoon like characters and items, skull, skunk, dart board,

below: Letting the imagination run wild as boys and girls read books in “Fishbone” by Eugene Stetz Jr., 2016

mural of two children, a boy and a girl, reading, with a cloud of objects from their imaginations joining them together. A mural on St. James Street in Kingston New York by Eugene Stetz Junior.

part of a mural, visualizing the imagination of a boy as he reads, planets, a baseball, an apple, a bone, and other items

below: “Sun/Moon” by Enz.

A two storey exterior wall, Keegan Ales, in Kingston NY with street art on it, a large mural across the top, a text piece on the lower level.

below: “Shadows of our Ancestors” by La Morena (aka Lucinda Yrene Hinojos) , with help from Cesar Castaneda, 2018. The mural depicts the artist’s grandmother, daughter, and niece participating in a healing ceremony while the hummingbirds represent her spirit animal.

a mural on Downs Street in Kingston New York

below: “Flight Sequence”, an owl in flight, by Justin Suarez, 2017

a horizontal mural showing three stages of an owl in flight

below: A tribute mural by Jalani Lion and Donny Mapes; In memory of Adam (Jeff) McQueen, Kaireem Meeks Jr, Dante Crump, Jonte Clark, and Jeffrey D’Aguilar, painted in 2015.

A tribute mural, showing portraits of young black men, by Jalani Lion and Donny Mapes; In memory of Adam (Jeff) McQueen, Kaireem Meeks Jr, Dante Crump, Jonte Clark, and Jeffrey D'Aguilar, painted in 2015.

More Kingston NY murals
Photos taken July 2022

Ain’t I A Woman?

Posted on July 9, 2022 by Mary C

This mural can be seen in Kingston NY.

Written in circles around the woman on the left are lines of poetry by Mahogany L. Browne

“you black girl magic
you black girl flyy
you black girl brilliance
you black girl wonder
you black girl shine
you black girl bloom
And you turning into a
beautiful black woman
right before they eyes”

The screen on the phone shows the portrait of another Black Woman, Sojourner Truth. The words written around her head are from a speech that she gave at the Women’s Convention in Akron, Ohio in 1851. Over one hundred and fifty years ago. Sojourner Truth was calling on Black women, and all women, to fight for the right to vote. The 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution gave women that right but that didn’t come into being until 1920.

In a lot of ways, Sojourner Truth’s words ring true today. Has there ever been a time when women weren’t fighting for their rights in one way or another? The text:

“that man over there said women need to be helped into carriages and carried over ditches.
nobody ever helped me over a ditch or lifted me into a carriage
AND AIN’T I A WOMAN?
look at me! look at my arm!
I have ploughed, harvested and sowed and planted and gathered into barns, and no man could head me!
AND AIN’T I A WOMAN?
I could work as much and eat as much as a man – when I could get it – and bear trash as well.
AND AIN’T I A WOMAN?
I have born thirteen children, seen most all off to slavery and when I cried in my mothers grief no one but jesus heard me!
AND AIN’T I A WOMAN?
the first woman god ever made was strong enough to turn the world upside down all alone, these women together ought to be able to turn back and get right back up again!”

The mural was painted by Jess Snow and jetsonorama as part of the O+ Festival

Photos taken in July 2022

rue de Savies

Posted on June 29, 2022 by Mary C

is a small street in the 20th arr., in the Belleville neighbourhood of Paris.

small stencil on a concrete wall, young girl in red dress with long hair tied back, holding a potted plant in a bucket, walking away with her back to viewer

below: Henry the bear on his scooter. One of the many bears released around the city by #bear_in_mind aka Gil Dassillien. You can see many more on his instagram page (check the link!).

black and white drawing on paper, pasted to wall, a bear on a scooter, wearing a shirt with the name Henry on it, street scene,

below: Amazing! large mural.

large mural with the word amazing written in cursive in yellow, orange and red, tribute mural to brens ody basketball player

below: A kiss in primary colours, a painting by SWeb aka Sebastien

below: Bare minimum white person rejoicing with the birds (or chasing pigeons…), jumping over rocks by the waterfall.

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below: Top right, a street art piece by LOUYZ. A fish out of water bursting through the wall, a Paris fish at that. Above the door – three lost little ones from Pac Man.

exterior wall with graffiti on it, large purple head of a bird with yellow beak and blue hat

Eyes on the Streets

and feets on the ground. Graffiti, street art and murals seen while wandering the streets and alleys of our colourful world.

Author Archives: Mary C