Aloha e komo mai

Posted on July 29, 2025 by Mary C

below: Seen at the corner of Cooke and Auahi streets in the Kaka’ako neighborhood of Honolulu – One building with at least three sides covered with street art murals.

below: On the east side is a large painting by Matt Eaton. Not shown in this photo is the tribute written in one corner that says, “In memory of our beloved uncle, Rabindra”

below: “Aloha, e komo mai” or Hello! Welcome, come in… a friendly Hawaiian greeting.

large mural on the side of a building in honolulu

below: Creativity is my freedom. The freedom to express not impress. To impress is to become a slave to others opinions.

below: Among the leaves and flowers you can see the words, “Don’t let anyone steal your joy”.

below: Finding peace under the old gnarly tree.

below: Sitting together at the table while the dog waits underneath.

below: Trumpet players and dragons with horns and spiky tails.

part of a street art mural, a young man with eyes closed, an older man playing the trumpet, a dragon with open mouth, horns on head, and a long spiky tail.

below: Circles and triangles form patterns on the wall around the entrance to Aupuni Space, an artist-run art gallery.

mural, with door in middle, circles made of triangles in black, on orange background

below: A giant turtle swimming in the clear blue waters of Hawaii in a mural by Artworkbykai aka Kaiili Kaulukukui

below: A painting by Tatunga aka Tatiana Suarez – yellow worm-like animals eating a piece of juicy guava.

below: The last mural shown here springs from the imagination of Alex Pardee

small part ofmural by Alex Pardee, on bright yellow background, many weird and ugly monsters, close up of one with out stretched green skinny arm

Photos taken July 2025

Caledonia Lane – San Fran

Posted on July 5, 2025 by Mary C

….another Mission District lane with street art.

below: A black and white smiling cat with very big paws hangs out on a crazy colored garage door in the lane. Painting by Michael Kershnar.

abstract black and white cat in a mural with other geometric shapes and colours

below: A mural by Elle covers the entire side of a building.

door covered with graffiti street art mural

below: Be Cool … Look after each other, but also beware of the dog!

below: Someone loves Shannon

below: Did you know that Donald Trump is a rapist?

below: That’s a lot of words….

below: … and even more words

part of street art mural with bright coloured houses but lots of dead and bleeding bodies

below: King Topa 4ever

urban art in Caledonia Lane, San Francisco, with text that says King Topa 4 ever

street sign for Caledonia Lane, in San Francisco

Photos taken February 2025

J-DEF Peace Project, mosaic, Pilsen

Posted on August 18, 2019 by Mary C

Near the 18th Street CTA stop on the pink line, and in the Pilsen area of Chicago, is a mosaic mural by the J-DEF Peace Project.

purple background, mosaic mural, words that say J DEF peace project

mosaic mural outside on a wall at 18th and Paulina in Pilsen area of Chicago, an arm raised with a fist along with the words paz, talk to your neighbors

part of a mural at 18th and Paulina in Pilsen area of Chicago, by J-DEF peace project, a portrait of Jeff Maldonado Jr. for whom the project is named after, as well as a picture with the theme of create safe places away from gun violence

The J-DEF Peace Project by the parents of Jeff Maldonado who was shot a day after his 19th birthday. It is a program that works towards ending gun violence among Chicago’s youth. They have made a safe place for young people to come together to participate in art projects and other programs.

moasaic mural of tiles with words create safe places. A picture of a body outline on the ground with three red hearts, also shadows of two people with long hair on swings. A man plays a drum with the words Rudy Avina

below: A tribute to Ana Mateo, Francisco Mendoza, and Javier Merino.
Pilsen wall of honor part of mosaic mural, pictures and names of three people, young girl Ana Mateo, and two men, Francisco Mendoza and Javier Merino.

below: Police officer Brian Strouse is also on the Wall of Honor.

mosaic tribute to policeman, Brian Strouse, along with the words we need to work hard to make the world better

The words under the four portraits say:
“We need to work hard to make the world better
Stop killin’ each other, start comin’ together
But the things you want in life like the cars and the bling
Got you blinded by the fact that its only a dream.”

below: The end of the mural, “make smart choices”.

part of a mosaic mural, J DEF peace project, back of a car, with words make smart choices

two faces, reefa and leticia

Posted on July 19, 2017 by Mary C

There are many murals that feature images of faces, both male and female, in Wynwood (Miami). Two of them are featured here.

The first is a large blue young woman with flowing grey hair, painted by Leticia Mandragora. Her eyes contrast sharply with the rest of her face. Mandragora is an Italian/Spanish street artist and tattooist. Her blue faced woman have been painted in a number of places in the USA. They all seem to have grey hair too.

mural by Leticia Mandragora of a girl with a blue face and a long head scarf in grey that trails to the left, along with three flowers

close up a large girl's face painted blue in a large mural, greenish eyes, head scarf on her head

The second mural is a memorial to street artist Israel Hernandez (aka Reefa) who died after being tasered by police in August 2013. The portrait in the center portion was painted by Axel Void while a number of other artists contributed to the edges.

long horizontal mural by Axel Void with a young man's head inside a white circle in the middle, the edges are faces in pastel colours, stylized

center of mural, a young man's head and face, a portrait of Israel Hernandez, aka Reefa, by Axel Void

below: Justice for Reefa

stylized faces in pastel colours, at the edges of a tribute mural to reefa, painted by a number of different artists

honouring Charlie Hebdo

Posted on July 8, 2016 by Mary C

On a wall on rue Gaby Sylvia in the 11th arrd. of Paris, there are five small portraits of men who died in the terrorist attack on Charlie Hebdo, the French satirical magazine, 7 January 2015.

below: Stephane Charbonnier, editor

small portrait of a man on a wall. Hand drawn head and shoulder shot, framed with tiny pieces of mosaic tile - Charb