Clandestinos in a hidden corner

Posted on April 5, 2022 by Mary C

…. of downtown Toronto.

a brick arch with a hanging light near the top, view through the arch is to a multi level parking garage, slight glimpses of a mural on the left side

Shalak Attack and Bruno Smoky have painted another large colourful mural. This one features two women, a baltimore oriole, and many flowers.

mural by Shalak Attack and Bruno Smoky in a narrow passageway

below: Close up of the bird, a baltimore oriole

part of a Clandestinos mural, showing a bird, a baltimore oriole, with a woman's face close to it. she has her eyes closed

close up of a womans face in a clandestinos mural, butterfly flying past her cheek,another woman behind her with flowers and fruit in her hair, eyes closed.

below: Adorned with leaves, flowers, and fruit – blueberries, raspberries, and blackberries. Lots of cherry blossoms and another bird too.

cherry blossoms, faces, painted in a mural, fruit and flowers for hair, raspberries, blackberries, and blueberries

The Original Peace Treaty

Posted on April 4, 2022 by Mary C

There is a large mural (40′ x 50′) in downtown Toronto on the west wall of the St. Lawrence Centre for the Arts on Front Street East. It was painted by Quentin Commanda, aka Que Rock.

large mural with First Nations themes, painted by Quentin Commanda, outdoor scene, butterfly, bear in pink water, fish, turtle island, moose, orange grass, sunset or sunrise sky, woman sitting,

below: Commanda’s “Artist Statement” – see below the picture to read the transcription.

on a wall beside a mural, words that are the artist statement for the mural, also a picture of the artist, Quentin Commanda,

Artist Statement:

This mural is meant to be a visual healing experience. The seven rings around Grandfather Sun represent the seven Grandfather teachings of the Anishinaabe people: Wisdom, Love, Humility, Respect, Honesty, Courage, and Truth. There are many layers of sacred geometry patterns on the mural.

The skyline includes the medicine-wheel teachings, Grandmother Moon and the 13 grandmother clan systems. The turtle shell represents North America’s creation story, the 13 full moons per year, and the seven grandfather teachings.

The entire mural also represents the original Peace Treaty of the Six Nations on Turtle Island (North America). The story of the Six Nations Treaty starts with the original five Nations of Turtle Island: the Plant Nation, the Insect Nation, the Bird Nation, the Fish Nation, and the Animal Nation. All five Nations had to agree to let the Human Nation live here on Mother Earth. All five Nations agreed to be humanity’s teachers and the Human Nation was invited to share the land.

The Human Nation was given instructions on how to live on Mother Earth, walk gentle on Mother Earth, learn one new thing every day, and share with one another. These are some of the original instructions given to the Anishinaabe people. The bear represents a Medicine Clan. The Mukwa (bear) is a healer, it is the only animal who communicates with all Six Nations.

The bottom panel represents my story from the past, present, and future. The first character with the microphone is the future and present me. The second character represents my past as a native child with my dog Miangun and the path of healing I have taken to decolonize myself back to the Anishinaabe child I was born to be.

My mother is a residential school survivor and so was my father. I am no different than the 215 children found in Kamloops, B.C. I survived to tell you this story and share my experiences. My community is still here and so am I.

The Artist is from Nbiising or Nipissing First Nation, his traditional name is Manitou Nemeen (Spirit Dancing) and he is from the Miangun Dodem (Wolf Clan).

The orange background on the mural represents the missing/murdered Indigenous peoples of Turtle Island.

The mural was commissioned by TO Live

Yes, YouCanSpray

Posted on April 1, 2022 by Mary C

Miraduoro da Graca, Lisboa

below: A smiling older man with birds

street art high on a wall, realistic portrait of an old man with leaves and feathers on half his face, with orange birds making a frame for his face and shoulders by oze art

below: A portion of the wall was painted by Diego Tiradentes. Eyeballs

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below: A red and white monkey playing with the sands of time

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below: Blue, blue, my world is blue. Even the happy face mask is blue. Mural on the right by RossellaRZ. On the left is #dogood #begood woman with closed eyes by Osiris Rain.

two murals on a wall, on the left in shades of grey a woman with long curly hair and eyes closed with words #begood #doggod #playhard #workhard. on right is blue person with blank face holding a mask, also in blue, with a happy face

street art painting of a blue person holding a blue mask on a stick in front of her face. Mask is a happy face, real face is blank.

street art mural on a wall of a young man with a leaf painted on his forehead
murals, street art, on an outdoor set of stairs, in the rain, people with umbrellas

below: Rezende

two street art portraits of women

below: Lonely Man by Gustavo Baseggio
mural street art in blues of an older man in a cap, title Lonely Man, painted by Gustavo Baseggio,

below: This colourful mural was painted by Jotapê of the artist collective, Jotapepax

mural street art in bright jewel tones, purple, dark pink, turquoise of a person sitting looking at their hand, also a long arm with fingers

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below: Tiago Hacke

below: Purple skinned couple by Féto and Nate
street art mural, a couple, man and woman, both with purple skin

below: A leopard by Marcello Mea

street art of a black and white leopard

below: A colourful threesome by Alex Kaleb

colorful mural by Alex Kaleb of three people standing in knee deep water, two with blue hair and one with red hair

A mural in Lisbon of a young man or woman with longish black hair, with word GO written on one cheek, blank white eyes, bluish colour to his skin

on a wall, a painting of a green and purple face, purple hair and ear, green hand, on polka dot background

part of a Lisboa mural of a greenish yellow skinned man wearing light purple top, reaching out hand holding two ice cream cones, wide open startled mouth and long nose, signed waroox

part of a mural, heavy set man with small mustache, wearing a diving, or skiing mask, open mouth,

mural at the bottom of a set of stairs, pink city buildings at sunset or sunrise, people and car in front are a bluish purple

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Photos were taken in December of 2019.

Link to Yes You Can Spray instagram page

Patio de Dom Fradique, Lisbon

Posted on March 31, 2022 by Mary C

entrance to Patio de Dom Fradique, sign on gate post, people walking up the path, street art on walls in the distance

below: Maybe it’s a hand wrapped in ribbons? Painted by osch aka Otto Schade

mural by Otto Schade in Lisbon of a hand with finger pointing made of ribbons wrapped around and around

below: A man with his musical dog by omik, aka Mickael Guedes.

murals on an old wall in Lisbon, in front is a man holding a whistling dog by omik

below: Another person by omik, this time a long haired woman in a pink dress and bare feet.

street art painting of a young woman with large head, white eyes, long reddish hair, pink dress and bare feet, by omik a k a Mikael Guedes
an old twisted tree in a courtyard beside a path, with street art on the walls around it, Lisbon

below: A guitar playing, cowboy hat wearing, man who has seen better days, by Toys Daniel.

older painting on a wall, some paint peeling, a bear-like man with yellow skin, blue cowboy hat, playing a guitar
street art painting of a young woman on a door, she's looking upward, beside a small square window with a metal grille

below: A fish on an old wall, a fish out of water, by Vibes aka Will Vibes

a mural of a large fish parts are realistic and parts are collages of other images including a mans face

small painted multicoloured flowers on a wall

near Picoas metro station – Lisbon

Posted on March 30, 2022 by Mary C

The Cronos Project initiative involved painting murals on the walls of three large abandoned old building on Av Fontes Pereira Melo close to the Picoas metro station. They were painted by several international artists including the Brazilian Os Gémeos, the Italians Blu and Erica Il Cane, and the Spaniard SAM3. Since the murals were painted in 2010, smaller graffiti – both paint and paper – has been layered over the lower portions.

below: She seems to have a ball of string in her hand and that string goes all the way to the next mural on the corner of the building (out of view in this photo)

below: She appears to be keeping an eye on that kraken, octopus that has appeared. Note the string across the picture.

below: View of two sides of the building

below: He holds the end of the strings in both hands.

below: A closer look at the man with the gold crown and the bendy straw. Whatever he was drinking has been painted over.

below: A large silhouette in the darkening sky.

below: Painted windows make a starry sky while wrought iron railings speak to a past elegance.

below: A silly yellow cat on the balcony

below: A large green crocodile (alligator?) clumsily crashing through the building.

below: A cute little couple, paste-up by Costan with a wolf (fox?) prowling in the background.

below: Wakeup! to a bright green alarm clock.

below: seeing triples, stencil featuring Elton John by A.L. Tony

below: Rui Veloso, Portuguese singer, another stencil by A.L. Tony

below: The Costan couple again, still with their hands forming a heart, along with some black stencils by Dalaiama – black birds in flight and two euros.

below: Another Costan, this time a cat with a hat.

Murals on Hoardings, Cuenca Ecuador

Posted on March 27, 2022 by Mary C

In Jaunary 2018 a large section of the old historic part of Cuenca was a construction site. The plywood hoardings around the site were painted with street art murals. I have credited the artist whenever possible but unfortunately most of the work was unsigned.

below: A Chicho rat

street art of a rat holding a yellow object, by Chicho

street art on hoardings around a construction site

below: Hambre translates to hunger.

mural on hoardings with historic church in the background, word hambre with 4 objects, a clown head, armchair, watermelon piece, and a red balloon on a string

below: Fourteen candles

mural with 14 lit candles in a row, with their reflection across the bottom. Candles are purple on the bottom, yellow in the middle and white on top.

below: White clothes; red heads

below: Wide eyed face with many teeth and an angular nose

mural on hoardings, a large rectangular horizontal black face with white features,

below: Cuenca street scene

a man walking down a street in Cuenca Ecuador with hoardings surrounding a construction site on one side of the street, the hoardings have murals painted on them

below: San Pancho re-arranged

blue background mural with crowd of white faces

hoardings, a mural that has been re-arranged incorrectly, hoarding panels are in wrong order

below: passing the peacock feather from top to bottom

mural on hoardings, peacock feather being passed from top half of person to bottom half of person
a young man in a hoodie is walking past murals on hoardings, picture on mural is of a person wearing purple shoes, Cuenca Ecuador

below: Shopping with diegumberrto aka Diego Molina,

detailed mural in mostly yellow of objects on shelves, a man appears to be shopping, has word extra on front of his baseball cap

below: She’s kneeling in the garden wearing mis-matched earrings and a pink sun hat; she is surrounded by a book, dolls, watermelon, lots of flowers and even a skull.

mural of a young girl in a pink hat and with mis matched ear rings, kneeling outside with dolls, plants, and other small objects like a piece of watermelon, a small white skull with an arrow through it,

below: Pieces of clothing flying everywhere

below: Honeybee and gummi bears

below:Flores en el camino, signed Anuska?

below: ideas, thoughts, and dreams

below: At the corner

below: More hoardings

below: Rearranged where workmen are busy.

Escalinata Juana de Oro, Cuenca Ecuador

Posted on March 27, 2022 by Mary C

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graffiti and street art along the wall of an outdoor staircase in Cuenca Ecuador

below: Cefiro pasteup. Cheer up!

below: The walls along the stairway were painted with a mural (2015 or before?) with a series of characters or pictures connected by pipes and branches.

graffiti beside the stairs, a tap on white pipes, a blue cat

below: Since then, many pieces of graffiti have been added to the wall including these two ink drawn paper pasteups.

2 pasteups on a wall, a purple triangle with a black and white drawing in the middle, and on the left, a drawing of a face

street art mural on a wall beside stairs, partially covered by pasteups and other graffiti

part of a mural

below: Ears that look like those of a certain famous mouse. … el medio ambiente y qu…. but just out of reach of a wide open mouth

paper pasteup over a mural. Pencil drawing of a Mickey Mouse type character

below: Pencil marks on paste-ups. Cual prefieres tu?

paper pasteup graffiti some drawn with pencil, figures and faces with words

below: A handful of feathers beside blue bubbles. A small paste-up of a cute little dog beside a not so cute creature in black and white, Juanito La Guerra.

part of a Cuenca mural, white background, bubbles coming out of a blue pipe

part of a street art mural beside stairs in Cuenca Ecuador, a large white faced clown with red lips is banging on a drum

below: I don’t think that chicken’s very happy… and is it best to eat the accordion?

below: Faces gathered around the windows

below: Fish in the pipes, running shoes, birds, and a black cat. And what is that little guy all dressed in black really up to?

blog_fish_pipes_birds staircase called Escalinata Juana de Oro in Cuenca Ecuador with graffiti and street art covering the walls

Nahual, Mexican graffiti artist – “nante de ojos abiertos reforestacion crece en las paredes” is approximately the same as: [nante] wide-eyed reforestation grows on the walls

below: Blues. Breathing life into the world.

blue street art beside stairs, leaves, a face rising out of the leaves and blowing swirls of blue air

Photos taken January 2018

fowl paintings in Montreal

Posted on March 2, 2022 by Mary C

below: A large mural by Birdo (aka Jerry Rugg), from the 2021 Mural Festival

below: Three chickens in three windows..

below: Is it a pink chicken? In a bubble bath? With pink, yellow, and blue feathers? Mural by sbuone. (Portuguese rooster actually).

more Montreal women

Posted on March 1, 2022 by Mary C

The previous blog post was about a large Montreal mural by Kevin Ledo that was a portrait of a woman called Mary Socktish. There are a number of other murals in the city that have a woman, or women, as the main feature. These are some of them – the following photos were taken on four visits to Montreal between 2015 and 2021 and some of these murals may no longer exist.

below: One of the older murals in Montreal, a graffiti granny, old woman by ASHOP Productions

mural of an older woman with hair in a bun, wearing glasses, and an apron,purple buildings in background on mural, on a Montreal corner,

below: A mural by five8art, a young woman looking skyward.

large mural of a young woman with longhair, blue background, she's looking up

below: By a Depanneur at Pins and Hotel de Ville, a large mural of two seated women and their scarf by Australian artist Fintan Magee.

At the corner, beside a depanneur, a large mural of two seated women by Fintan Magee, one has blue and white checkered scarf over her face, the other has same scarf across the top of her head.

Close up of mural by Fintan Magee in Montreal, by small window in building, hands of women plus their blue and white scarves

below: A mural by Rone, another Australian artist.

close up of a large mural by Rone of a woman's face in shades of brown, on a brick wall in Montreal, street art

below: Sorry is Not Enough, a mural by Denial (or Enjoy Denial) with a shout out to Black Lives Matter

large mural in Montreal of a woman crying, eyes closed, white tears, red lipstick, by Denial, above her face are words Sorry is not enough

below: From 2018, this mural by Drew Merritt and Sainte Famille and Milton (photo taken in 2018 as well)

mural of a woman on a MOntreal wall painted by Drew Merritt

below: Street artist Nychos working on a mural

street artist nychos up on a lift and painting a large mural in Montreal as people walk by on the street

below: A tribute to Lea Roback (1903-2000), by Carlos Oliva (aka Hsix) in 2014. Roback was a textile worker who became a trade union activist, feminist and pacifist (among other things). She fought for woman’s suffrage in Quebec (1936), she played a role in helping to organize 5,000 garment workers who had been on a three-week strike in 1937, and that is only a small fraction of what she accomplished.

below: by Sandra Chevrier, pop culture references to Superman and Batman

below: A collaboration between Cyrielle Tremblay and Poni (aka Hilda Palafox, painted in 2018. Working in an imaginary garden maybe?

muraal on a brick wall, two women working outside. One is planting a blue pine tree and the other is pouring water, ther is a cross on a red hill with other blue trees on it.

below: A whimsical black and white of women astronauts, guitar players, skate boarders, astronomers, and others. It is the work of Le Monstr, aka Benjamin Tran.

black and white mural of women doing a number of activites, also some sleeping cats, an astronaut among the planets, a shkateboarder, reading, playing guitar. Mural in Montreal, by Le Monstr, a k a Benjamin Tran

below: A mural from 2014 putting a spotlight on the call for justice for missing and murdered indigenous women.

on the side of a book store in Montreal, a mural calling for justice for missing and murderedindigenous women, a woman sitting outside, with a blanket around her shoulders

Mary Socktish

Posted on February 26, 2022 by Mary C

Another large mural in Montreal painted by Kevin Ledo is this portrait of Mary Socktish of the Hupa tribe in Northern California . This 2014 work is based on an old photograph from a series on the Hupa people, taken by Edward Curtis in 1923.

large mural by Kevin Ledo in Montreal of an older woman, Mary Socktish

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