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

LA women, street art style

Posted on February 22, 2017 by Mary C

A few more photos of street art in Los Angeles. Photos taken February 2017.

On the SB Tower, corner of 6th Street and Spring Street in downtown Los Angeles, there is this large mural by Robert Vargas.

by Robert Vargas, large mural of a woman's head in monochrome grey, almost three storeys tall, surrounded by yellow, with a large hand wrapped around the corner of the building, photo taken from diagonally across the intersection. A man in yellow jacket is pushing a cart, a street cleaner, as he starts across the intersection. Other people are waiting for their green light.

below: Not just three women but also a white dove, a red rose, snakes, a soldier in black, a revolver, a pistol, rocks, leaves, and a multitude of colours, shapes and patterns.

part of a larger mural, two women's faces with a man in a black and blue outit between thwm, a white dove is strating to take flight between their foreheads, a pistol is aimed at the dove,

below: Staring from behind the wire.

realistic mural of a woman with short blond face and blue eyes, staring straight ahead, head and neck only, on a black wall, seen from the other side of a wire fence with looped barbed wire across the top.

below: Two women. A small woman with angel wings and a larger woman in a blue hood who seems to be playing with the car. When cars park in front of street art and you want to take a picture – well, you’ve got to find a way to make it work, especially if you can’t get back later.

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below: She sees a red book in her crystal ball

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below: I think we can include this one as a picture of a woman. I can almost hear Lady Liberty saying “Cheers” as she raises her pint of beer. This paste up is the work of @sellout_tcf

paste up black and white line drawing of the statue of liberty, lady liberty, holding up a yellow coloured beer mug full of beer while holding a large beer keg in the other arm.

sprayed on the sidewalks of LA

Posted on February 9, 2017 by Mary C

As you walk around the Arts District in Los Angeles, watch where your feet are going.
You’ll see many stencils that have been spray painted underfoot.

This first one, women in head scarves, is obviously a political statement.
It was also the only stencil that was in two colours.

below: Dangerous insects, with scoped rifles for wings.

below: … and a dragonfly too. Weaponized terrorist bugs.
No wait, they’re Homeland Security agents in disguise.

below: No money, No honey.

below: Social media is selling your shit. Apparently there is a third one that says “Seeking your applause, your digital mirage” but I didn’t see it.

below: A red extremist. Love extremists.

below: A dove with a rose in its beak, La Rosa

below: I am fairly certain that the word says iagily but I haven’t been able to find any info online.

below: Got love?

below: I have always seen you. That’s the chorus/refrain from the song ‘Harriet’ by American Appetites. There may be other references?

below: Campbells soup made of vegans? or for vegans?

below: The last one is not actually a stencil but I couldn’t resist including it here.

Photos taken February 7, 2017

lovebot goes to Montreal (2015)

Posted on July 14, 2016 by Mary C

Lovebot went to Montreal for MuralFest 2015

He was spotted all over town!

below: Spelling it out, L O V E high on a wall.

four large wheatpaste pieces high on a brick wall. Lovebot in profile facing right makes an L, then a lovebot facing forward for O, then a lovebot heart for V and finally another lovebot in profile, with arm sticking out, to make E.

below: Out for a walk with lovebat (babybot with wings?) flying behind.

wheatpaste lovebot walking, with small lovebat? or baby bot with bat wings, flying behind

below: He was seen hanging out with some of the locals….

a small lovebot wheatpaste on a wall above some street art painted creatures, one cat like animal in red and one pinkish creature with long green hair.

below: or with friends

a large lovebot as part of a large painted mural on a wall.

below: Or just hanging around by himself

lovebot wheatpaste on a red brick wall on a building at the entrance to an alley

lovebot wheatpaste on a red brick wall with lots of hydro wires and cables

below: Because not all the locals were friendly!

A light grey lovebot sticker beside a sticker of a girl with bandana over the lower part of his face and she is pointing her rifle at lovebot. The sticker of the girl is by Enzo Sarto and his name on it.

large wheatpaste paste up lovebot on a wall about a street art painting of a rooster who also has a heart on his body

black lovebot sticker on the blue part of a Bell payphone

a black lovebot sticker on a black pole with a bike parked against that pole and a pink and purple mural of faces behind in the background

boxes on the street

Posted on April 11, 2016 by Mary C

Those ugly metal boxes that sit on the sidewalks are needed to house traffic light controls or to provide access points to telephone and internet cable networks. The trend these days is to have artists paint them and Milan is no exception. There weren’t too many painted boxes but here are some that I saw. I am not sure if all of them were sanctioned by the city.

metal box on a sidewalk outside of a restaurant in Milan, painted brown with a picture of two black people, a man and boy, both with curly afro hair styles painted in rainbow colours. They are facing each other, nose to nose. 4 wine bottles are on top of the box.

2 metal boxes on the sidewalks in Milan, both with street art. One is brown, a man's face with a scared look and he's wearing a red tie. The other is a stylized woman in blue overalls

below: Sugo o vino (sauce or wine) by La Pupazza

Street art on a metal box on a sidewalk. The words say 'sugo o vino' which is Italian for 'sauce or wine'. The illustration is a picture of a bowl of pasta with red liquid being poured over it from a wine glass.

A pink elephant like animal painted on a grey metal box on a sidewalk. There are tags on it as well. The walls in the background also have tags on them, tomcat is one of them.

hanging out on grey walls

Posted on February 6, 2016 by Mary C

The following pieces of graffiti and street art were found in a lane that more an entranceway to an apartment complex parking garage than an alley. I forgot to make note of where it was, except that it is somewhere in Fitzroy. There were a number of tag-like, or letter, graffiti that I didn’t photograph. Amongst those there were a few stencils and paste-ups that were interesting.

Two small paste ups. on the right is the head and shoulders of a girl with brown hair and blue top and on the left is a small black and white drawing of a little creature onto which someone has drawn blue eyes and mouth

a black stencil on grey wall of a creature blowing bubbles. The bubbles have been painted yellow. The vreature is sitting. Has the upper body and arms of a human, but the legs of a hairy animal (cat? dog?).

Paste up of almost life sized Asian girl standing in a corner of a garage. Short straight black hair, black pants, and a red floral print on yellow top. Beside her is a large tag graffiti with M O G. The O has been turned into the face of a little creature with big white eyes and a funny round nose

Two street art pieces. On the right is a black stencil of a person wearing an African mask and holding a branch behind his head. He is sitting on the back of an animal. on the left is a simplistic drawing of a square face with two little stick legs

black stencil of a girl sitting on the ground with a doll on the floor beside her

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day trip to Bendigo

Posted on January 16, 2016 by Mary C

There isn’t much street art in the town of Bendigo – or I was wasn’t in the right part of town. The five pictures below is all that I saw.

below: You’ve just been given the bird. Peace.

a white stencil on a blue wall, a dove in flight with an olive branch in its mouth. A hand and arm is made of the words "You have just been given the bird"

below: A supercalifragilistic stencil

black stencil on a light brown wall, Mary Poppins floating upwards with her open umbrella. Her trail is the word supercalifragiliciousexpialidocius.

below: Three women on walls.

black stencil on a stone wall of a woman's head, very large Afro hair style, smiling,

small paper wheatpaste of a blond woman on the door of a small metal box, with a padlock. The paper is peeling a bit and the rust from the box is also on the graffiti

Paper wheatpaste of a woman that is badly faded and peeled off. She is beside some purple spray paint.

power people

Posted on January 3, 2016 by Mary C

Surrounding the CitiPower Collingwood power substation at the corner of Easey and Wellington streets is a large monochromatic mural. It is by Juddy Roller (a company specialising in street art and graffiti management) and it involved collaboration between street artists including Rone, Adnate, Mayo, Guido Van Helton and Askew.

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The script/writing on the mural was painted by Mayo.

monochromatic realistic portrait of a woman part of a larger mural painted on a wall surrounding a power substation in Melbourne. The woman has a ring in her nose
The portraits were by Askew, Rone, Guido and Adnate.

monochromatic realistic portrait of two women part of a larger mural painted on a wall surrounding a power substation in Melbourne

This mural was also made possible with the support of CitiPower Powercor, The Neighbourhood Justice Centre and City of Yarra.

monochromatic realistic portrait of a woman part of a larger mural painted on a wall surrounding a power substation in Melbourne. Long hair is covering one side of the woman's face

monochromatic realistic portrait of a woman part of a larger mural painted on a wall surrounding a power substation in Melbourne

monochromatic realistic portrait of a woman part of a larger mural painted on a wall surrounding a power substation in Melbourne. There are power lines in the background