under the railway in Lynn

Posted on September 19, 2025 by Mary C

Lynn is a town in Massachusetts just outside of Boston. It is also one of the towns that participate in Beyond Walls, a non-profit organization that believes that art can build better cities. There is a lot of street art here! This isn’t the first post about Lynn – it is a look at some of the painting along the railway line near the station in central Lynn.

below: As the railway passes through Lynn, it is above grade. The sections underneath along the parking lot on Mt Vernon Street have been decorated with street art murals. The large building in the background is on the other side of the tracks and is featured in another blog post, Behind a building on Union Street

street art murals in Lynn Mass USA, under the railway that runs above grade here, as seen from beyond Mount Vernon Street

below: Part shiny chrome and part matte gray, a little whale by Bikismo (aka the chrome master!).

street art mural in Lynn Mass USA, by Bikismo, on bright yellow background, a whale that is partially shiny chrome and partially matte gray

below: Spray painting with great gusto with Okaje.

street art mural in Lynn Mass USA, by artist Okaje, a man in spray painting a pink blob

below: Tentacles of a purple octopus slither up the post.

below: Three men and a wolf.

below: A marvelous steamy picture of Engine 481 on the Boston and Maine railway painted by Ben Keller.

below: From Lynn with love.

below: Spread your magic on cassette (how long ago did we do that!?).

below: History by Life Art from 2021. There is more text at the bottom of the panel but only “Humanity in colors” can be read.

below: Wraps Mummy and its red balloon, by Grimly Toys

below: A row of people across the top, by Annadidathing aka Anna Dugan

below: A very purple face, painted by Bycazo (aka Jessica)

below: Autism, Lola, and Nanay…..

below: At one end of the parking lot is a large mural that is a collaboration between Yu-Baba and Key Detail.

close up of part of mural by yu-baba and key detail in ynn massachusett,

below: On the other side of the tracks there is more art.

a row of street art murals under a railway line

below: A canine-like critter (dog? wolf?) with a black shiny nose and sharp white teeth by Ghost Beard

large canine looking creature with a big black nose, long snout, and big white teeth, text says ghost beard

below: Nead2‘s rendition of Bart Simpson as a graffiti artist.

street art featuring Bart Simpson, by nead 2

below: It seems to rise like a plume of smoke – a painting on one of the pillars supporting the railway bridge, painted by Yuknow K Lou

below: Also by the tracks…

below: Ruben Ubiera painted this mural on Silsbee Street close to the railway tracks and station. There are words on the black band on the gorilla’s shoulder that say “Entering Lynn”.

street art mural in Lynn Mass USA by Ruben Ubiera, large gorilla,

street art mural in Lynn Mass USA, by Ruben Ubiera

the words leaving memories always written in black capital letters on a wall with other street art colours

below: Lastly, just across from the tracks Kevin Ledo has painted “Do you realize” on the side of one of the small apartment buildings.

under an Ostiense railway bridge

Posted on January 21, 2024 by Mary C

Once upon a time, about 2013, on Via Ostiense under the railway tracks, a group of artists painted the concrete walls… Names like 2501, moneyless, andreco, tellas, Martina Merlini, ozmo, and gaia. By January 2020 only parts of them could be seen. This post shows part of those concrete walls as they appeared at the beginning of 2020 (other parts of the bridge to follow in subsequent posts).

The artist 2501 (aka Jacopo Ceccarelli) is known for his black and white striped creations and some of those were still visible along with realistic looking hands and faces that were probably painted by others.

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below: Percy Bysshe Shelley, the poet, by OZMO

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below: Another portrait by OZMO

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below: A tarot card with an image of Temperance. She is often an angel and is one of the three virtues found in tarot cards along with Justice and Strength. A woman mixing water into wine was a standard allegory of Temperance in European art.

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below: “#BackToBlue” by Luca Maleonte, the original 2014 mural was tagged over before I saw it and just the top central two figures could be seen.

below: I found this photo online of the mural after it had just been painted.

Luca Maleonte mural #BacktoBlue from Widewalls site — Photo credit: Widewalls

below: The artist who created these is leonardo crudi novecento (Leonardo Crudi) The description of the black and yellow poster on his Instagram is “Alle bestie che strisciano da varie fessure Bisbiglio piano, di mio arbitrio: Prospera Allora mi guardo intorno – ma forse agisco, Sventurato contro la volonta di qualcuno Prigov e gli scarafaggi” Using Google Translate – “To the beasts that crawl from various cracks I whisper softly, of my own free will: Prosperous Then I look around – but perhaps I act, Wretched against someone’s will Prigov and the cockroaches” Prigov refers to Dmitri Prigov, a Russian writer and artist.

below: Helicopter silhouette

Pictures taken January 2020

The next installment of graffiti found under the Ostiense bridge is here – another section

crossing the Williamsburg Bridge

Posted on September 17, 2023 by Mary C

between Manhattan and Williamsburg, over the East River

crossing the Williamsburg bridge, with pinkish red metal railings and girders, pedestrian walkway is beside and slightly above road and subway lines.

A little yellow dinosaur trying to look fierce as he growls at your feet.

I’m happy you’re here, keep going!

I crave you

Shy white cat says meow

Homesick and Lucky Star writ large on a grey wall. The American flag image below them is made using painted car doors.

view from williamsburg bridge, buildings, one with graffiti street art on it

It’s just love in a rainbow of colours.

… and love is gold

Pacman wears a gold crown, king of the streets

Looking down at Williamsburg streets including a mural with two faces and two flowers.

Blackface pink walker

Reaching out in peace and love

Stencil by go4tart aka GOAT, rat on a scooter; a rat loves NYC

Seek Discomfort

Sold out art show yellow face with three pairs of eyes.

I wonder what Jane’s reaction was?

….. Maybe this is Jane ?!

on the railing – mask? and master?

Kiss me

More words on love

… but in the end, the virus gets you.

Photos taken August 2023

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

Alien Gardens, East London

Posted on November 7, 2016 by Mary C

blue sign for Allen Gardens that has been altered to say Alien Gardens, city of London , TOwer Hamlets,

looking across a park, grass in the foreground. A man is sitting on a bench in front of fence covered with graffiti and street art, including a painting of a big blue eye

below: An MCLN pasteup featuring his Plague Doctor character walking old streets. A lost world of memories? Or Memories of a lost world?

paper paste up by mcln of memory, characters in black top hats and black coats walking streets of the past

below: The London Overground passes the north side of the park.

train track bridge, brown girders, over a park with a graffiti and street art covered fence below the bridge

below: An unreadable sign.

triangular street sign with red border, unreadable because covered with stickers and spray paint

below: The northeast exit from the park is a walkway that leads to Brick Lane.

a narrow lane, with bollards to prevent cars from driving down it, low buildings on either side, with street art on the right hand side.

below: The northeast corner of the park.

looking across a park, grass in the foreground. A fence covered with graffiti separates the park from buildings, a new glass skyscraper in the distance along with some construction cranes and other new construction.

Braithwaite Street, Shoreditch

Posted on November 7, 2016 by Mary C

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Most of Braithwaite Street is under railway tracks next to Shoreditch High Street station on the London Overground. The south end of the street used to be called Wheler Street and appears as such on google maps. Photos taken September 2016.

street art paste up of two people, man and woman, that look like inflatable dolls. The woman is holding the leash of a balloon dog.

below: Mssd Connctn, To the one who could have been everything, sorry I swiped left.

street art and graffiti in Shoreditch England, on Braithwaite Street,

below: More of the detailed grasshopper pasteups (previously seen on Grimsby Street) and an old paper pasteup of a Chanel No. 5 perfume bottle…. this one full of skulls. The perfume bottle is the work of endless.

street art and graffiti in Shoreditch England, on Braithwaite Street, a grasshopper paste up, an old chanel number 5 perfume bottle

below: Above the grasshoppers is a headless flying horse or pony. The star on its backside suggests that it’s from My Little Pony.

street art and graffiti in Shoreditch England, on Braithwaite Street, paste up of a flying pony with its head cut off, also a dodo bird

below: Portrait of a street artist with spray can, respirator, tattoos, and bling, by Cloakwork.

street art and graffiti in Shoreditch England, on Braithwaite Street, mural of a large fat man with gas mask on and spray paint can in hand by cloak work

below: Graffiti under the bridge.

street art and graffiti in Shoreditch England, on Braithwaite Street, on the curved walls of an underpass, darkish, with a couple of people walking under the bridge

below: A jumble of facial features.

an arch under a brick bridge is covered with plywood and painted blue. On it is a jumbled face in five pieces. Two people are sitting on the kerb in front of it.

below: A collection of little graffiti pieces high on a brick wall.

street art and graffiti in Shoreditch England, on Braithwaite Street, three little pieces on a brick wall behind a wire fence

below: Another chanel perfume bottle by endless, this time Marymee and eau de streetart. The cat playing card has some tiny words written on the bottom including, @hellothemushroom. A google search reveals this to be the work of Sara Doucette.

street art and graffiti in Shoreditch England, on Braithwaite Street, a yellow chanel perfume bottle with MaryMee on the label as well as eau de street art. Also a playing card, ace, with cat face on it, and the words @hellothemushroom

street art and graffiti in Shoreditch England, on Braithwaite Street, a woman walks past construction hoardings covered with street art

street art and graffiti in Shoreditch England, on Braithwaite Street, large mural of a woman with back to viewer, lifting up the skin on her back to reveal digital codes

below: A painting by Nathan Bowen.

street art and graffiti in Shoreditch England, on Braithwaite Street, a painting by Nathan Bowed on a man in yellow clothes (a clown?)

below: A few pasteups including one that resembles Lt. Vincent although it’s a little bearded guy in a snail shell being pulled by a large red cat.

street art and graffiti in Shoreditch England, on Braithwaite Street, six or seven paste ups on a wall, including a Lt. Vincent being pulled by a cat

below: Pink, fuzzy and spread eagle on a wall – a large teddy bear.

street art and graffiti in Shoreditch England, on Braithwaite Street, a pink teddy bear with terry cloth body high on a wall, beside a black and white pasteup of a bomb

below: Rapid. Mask and goggles. Street art by Someart

street art and graffiti in Shoreditch England, on Braithwaite Street, a painting of a man's head wearing balaclava and goggles, with word bubble that says I am Rapid Some Art

below: Shoot the Bank with photos added above and “Not Art” sprayed below.

street art and graffiti in Shoreditch England, on Braithwaite Street, black and white piece Shoot The Bank with a picture of a man in mask and with rifle. In red spray paint someone has written over it Not Art. 8 posters above it, with photos

below: ‘Stranger Things’ from the Netflix series.

street art and graffiti in Shoreditch England, on Braithwaite Street, mural entitled strange things, man in old fashioned scuba mask waving, in turquoise background.

below: Construction hoardings on Braithwaite immediately south of the tracks around what used to be a car park.

street art and graffiti in Shoreditch England, on Braithwaite Street, construction hoardings covered with street art

below: Continuation of the hoardings… the red brick building is Bedford House, at the corner of Quaker and Braithwaite streets.

street art and graffiti in Shoreditch England, on Braithwaite Street, construction hoardings covered with street art

below: Another Nathan Bowen work, this time beside a strange drawing by Clancy.

street art and graffiti in Shoreditch England, on Braithwaite Street, a painting of a Buckingham palace guard with its bushy black hat and red uniform, on a union jack by Nathan Bowen and a drawing of a man sitting on a sidewalk by Clancy

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.

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