around Ehrenfeld station

Posted on September 9, 2026 by Mary C

The Ehrenfeld neighbourhood of Cologne is a “hotspot” for urban art of all sorts. This blogpost focuses on some of the murals and graffiti that I saw close to the train station. It is one of many posts featuring art in Arheneld.

urban art, street art, in Cologne Germany, near Erheneld station,by Herakut, a girl and her dog. dog is wearing blue and white striped t shirt

below: By the German duo, Herakut, a girl and her dog in a blue and white striped shirt with words “Ohne dich würde ich mich nicht trauen” (Without you, I wouldn’t dare)

by Herakut, a girl and her dog. dog is wearing blue and white striped t shirt. text on mural says Ohne dich würde ich mich nicht trauen

below: This geometric creation by Zedz is beside the Lidl parking lot.

urban art, street art, in Cologne Germany, near Ehrenfeld station, geometric abstract by zedz on side of residential building

below: “Matriarchy” is a mural by Ukrainian street artist AEC Interesni Kazki (aka Aleksei Bordusov). There are two naked women – one black woman riding a tiger and one white-ish woman sitting under a red umbrella. That’s quite the platform that shes sitting on.

urban art, street art, in Cologne Germany, near Ehrenfeld station, "Matriarchy" by Ukrainian street artist AEC Interesni Kazki aka Aleksei Bordusov

below: SeiLeise (Tim Ossege)’s depiction of Cardinal Woelki’s as a Star Wars emperor wearing a dark habit and standing between two soldiers from the imperial guard of honour wearing red coverings and a fig leaf strategically placed.

urban art, street art, in Cologne Germany, near Ehrenfeld station, SeiLeise stencil, archbishop in black hooded robe, holding staff, accompanied by men draped in red so heads are hidden but fig leaf over groin

below: This European flag is also by SeiLeise, a flag where the gold stars are being methodically cut off and removed.

urban art, street art, in Cologne Germany, near Ehrenfeld station, stencil by SeiLeise, older man, seated, wearing suit cutting yellow stars off a European flag

below: “A Chinese Fairy Tale” was painted by Dabtar and A.Signl who are members of the street art crew Captain Borderline. Amnesty International and Colorrevoltion e.V. were also involved. Apparently the mural is a statement (or to raise awareness of?) the human rights situation in China. It dates from 2014.

restaurant patio in front of a wall with urban art, street art, in Cologne Germany, near Ehrenfeld station, A Chinese Fairy Tale" painted by the street art crew Captain Borderline, A.Signl and Dabtar, dragon puppet, panda mask,

urban art, street art, in Cologne Germany, near Ehrenfeld station, A Chinese Fairy Tale" painted by the street art crew Captain Borderline, A.Signl and Dabtar, dragon puppet, panda mask,

below: This 3D large mosaic head is an earlier work of Captain Borderline (2011).

urban art, street art, in Cologne Germany, near Ehrenfeld station, 3D mosaic head by Captain Borderline, big white eyes and nose, red lips, closed mouth, big ears, bald

3D mosaic head by Captain Borderline, close up of nose, red lips, closed mouth

below: Once again, another Captain Borderline painting – this time they collaborated with local artist, Rakaposhii (mural ‘Mystical Wall’, shown in 4 photos)

urban art, street art, in Cologne Germany, near Ehrenfeld station, mystical wall mural by Captain Borderline and Rakaposhii,

urban art, street art, in Cologne Germany, near Ehrenfeld station, part of mystical wall mural by Captain Borderline and Rakaposhii, two women, in black and white

urban art, street art, in Cologne Germany, near Ehrenfeld station, part of mystical wall mural by Captain Borderline and Rakaposhii, building with balcony railing, black and white tiled roof

urban art, street art, in Cologne Germany, near Ehrenfeld station, part of mystical wall mural by Captain Borderline and Rakaposhii,

below: This long wall was designed together by two street artists as part of the first City-Leaks Festival in 2011 – Swiss artist Smash137 and Dutch artist Zedz (see above mural). It’s title is “Musikalische Komposition”. Between when this picture was taken (October 2025) and now (September 2026) the building was demolished.

urban art, street art, in Cologne Germany, near Ehrenfeld station, mural by smash 137 and zedz

below: “Häusliche Gewalt” (Domestic Violence) was created by street artist RIPO (aka Max Rippon) in July 2014

urban art, street art, in Cologne Germany, near Ehrenfeld station, Häusliche Gewalt (Domestic Violence) was created by street artist RIPO (aka Max Rippon)

below: Lichtstrasse with RIPO’s mural along with a couple of paintings higher up on the adjacent building.

urban art, street art, in Cologne Germany, near Ehrenfeld station, street scene, Häusliche Gewalt (Domestic Violence) was created by street artist RIPO (aka Max Rippon)

below: In accessible – murals painted on a wall that is now behind a fence…. one of the pitfalls of art on temporary structures.

urban art, street art, in Cologne Germany, near Ehrenfeld station

below: Potted plants, and/or plants in colourful vases surround a person who seems to be removing an animal (leopard?) mask in a mural painted by Gaupo Sapo (composed of YuMu, Krashkid, and Alexander Isakov) in 2017.

urban art, street art, in Cologne Germany, near Ehrenfeld station, Potted plants, and/or plants in colourful vases surround a person who seems to be removing an animal (leopard?) mask in a mural painted by Gaupo Sapo

below: A very happy spray paint can admires its work?

urban art, street art, in Cologne Germany, near Ehrenfeld station, mural behind a fence

below: Posters with messages like “We are all brainwashed” surrounded by winged phones and television emitting concentric waves. Another message from Vanessa Slagter is “Grow Women Power – Grow where you want. Not where they want to see you”.

urban art, street art, in Cologne Germany, near Ehrenfeld station, three posters by Vanessa Slagter

below: “Any Europeans should see behind the wall” by the artist Benten.

urban art, street art, in Cologne Germany, near Ehrenfeld station, large monotone mural, Any Europeans should see behind the wall" by the artist Benten, woman holding hands up in front of her face

below: “Believe Israeli women” and “Make street art great again”. The artist’s ‘signature’ looks like biebezvrfarbe.rise

urban art, street art, in Cologne Germany, near Ehrenfeld station, green poster with image of woman holding a sign that says make street art great again, also a small sticker says believe israeli women as well as small round sticker saying all we need is peace

below: A man and his hair.

urban art, street art, in Cologne Germany, near Ehrenfeld station, older painting of a man on a wall where plants have grown over the top of the wall and look like his hair

below: Vincent was painted on his hair even though this is Sid Vicious (of the Sex Pistols). This stencil Sid with a can of Fanta in his hand is by Petit Agite. The pink heart is an add-on.

urban art, street art, in Cologne Germany, near Ehrenfeld station, black and white stencil, large, of Sid vicious from punk rock band Sex Pistols. he is holding a can of Fanta pop. other small slap graffiti around him

urban art, street art, in Cologne Germany, near Ehrenfeld station, grey mannequin lying on ground outside door that is covered with graffiti, wall beside door is also covered

below: A guitar player – with legs doing some awkward things!

urban art, street art, in Cologne Germany, near Ehrenfeld station, faded painting of a guitar player

urban art, street art, in Cologne Germany, near Ehrenfeld station, pink rectangle, face with oval slitty eyes and rectangular mouth, black dots on cheeks and chin

below: Four little bits and pieces – A NanE popsicle with a goofy toothy expression. A black and white Bustr (?) who seems to be gaping wide mouthed at the tiny woman’s portrait. The latter was made by Henry Paulson who seems obsessed with three or four young woman whose very similar portraits can be seen in a LOT of places. Last, top right is Little Vandal Cube by Reth.

urban art, street art, in Cologne Germany, near Ehrenfeld station, Four little bits and pieces - A NanE popsicle with a goofy toothy expression. A black and white Bustr who seems to be gaping wide mouthed at the tiny woman's portrait. The latter was made by Henry Paulson who seems obsessed with three or four young woman whose very similar portraits can be seen in a LOT of places. Last, top right is Little Vandal Cube by Reth.

urban art, street art, in Cologne Germany, near Ehrenfeld station, large paste up with blaw, blaw, blaw in a text bubble

urban art, street art, in Cologne Germany, near Ehrenfeld station, collection of slaps

below: More Henry Paulson faces… some normal, some with big lips, some with mismatched eyes…

urban art, street art, in Cologne Germany, near Ehrenfeld station, arrangement of stickers with woman's portrait, all byHenry Paulson, all rather similar black hair and blue eyes,

urban art, street art, in Cologne Germany, near Ehrenfeld station, street scene

urban art, street art, in Cologne Germany, near Ehrenfeld station, train bridge over a street with traffic, the words love and peace painted on the bridge

urban art, street art, in Cologne Germany, near Ehrenfeld station, sticker with a pigeon head, yellow beak, wearing a white shirt with a collar

Photos taken October 2025

walking along the Seine

Posted on May 14, 2024 by Mary C

Graffiti and street art seen while walking along the Seine in Paris.

below: Woof woof! Yes Paris!

below: Multi-coloured by Tremos, Peruvian artist living in France

below: At Voie sur Berge (Passerelle Léopold Sedar Senghor), in the 7ème, is this long mural by Michael Beerens titled “Plastique” – it is a comment on the state of our oceans.

large mural in blues on a wall beside the River Seine

The title is French but the word in the mural is English, “plastic”.

part of Plastique, a long blue mural by Michael Beerens along the banks of the river Seine

below: Honey bear by fnnch. There are quite a few of these around Paris and I blogged about them in June of 2022, Honey Bears.

Swallows in flight; swallows with little white halos.

graffiti, painting of a swallow (bird) in flight, with a small white halo over its head

graffiti, painting of a swallow (bird) in flight, with a small white halo over its head. also words that say forever child and joja

below: A “My dog sighs” sticker beside a portrait of a woman with very orange hair.

stickers and pasteups on a metal box, outside, including a painting of a woman in turquoise dress with orange hair

below: A small black and white cat by Copycat, an “anonymeows streetartist” who has painted hundreds of cats.

below: Another Copycat cat…

below: ….. and yet another, on a multi coloured background

below: Another Copycat cat… this time it has a companion, another orange headed woman. She is surrounded by an intricate design and is the work of OJA.

two paste ups, paper, on metal boxes outside. One is a loose-skinned hairless cat by copycat and the other is a woman, surrounded by intricate detailed border by o j a

below: Two faded OJA pieces

below: Re-using many, many can lids – beer cans, pop cans, drink cans.

3 d art, large plywood board with circle made of pop can tops which are circular

below: Are three heads better than one?

below: A sassy blue monkey with a pink heart bum.

below: Mr. Djoul is an artist who creates mosaics, especially of this little green-eyed alien creature

below: Invader mosaic? And in the lower left corner, bright red hair and words that say “My weariness in longing”

below: From the description beside the photo: “Ho–[torn] made a famous photograph of a dying soldier which became anti war icon since 1930s. Later it was proven to be a staged image on which nobody really died… From Russian diaries of Krapiva Netleva” [krapiva is the Russian word for nettle]

faded large black and white photo mounted on an outside wall

below: Four photographs on a wall

4 small colour photos, framed, on a wall

below: On a post overlooking the river.

two stickers on a pole, river seine behind, buildings on the far side of the river in the background

below: This guy gets around! Nourf, by Pimax

below: More slaps and stickers. A Mohawk-type hair style with A2, Natreel (a clothing brand), Tom Azria (faded), and Venus in a witch’s hat.

below: Abstract shapes and colours. Trying to look 3-dimensional.

Photos taken March 2023

De La Main D’Or

Posted on November 8, 2023 by Mary C

Passage De La Main D’Or is a narrow street in the 11th arr. in Paris. At one point the street turns and becomes Rue De La Main D’Or. It is at this turning point that I saw the following:

below: Street scene, Passage De La Main D’Or with markings and small artworks on a wall.

street scene, narrow street in Paris, Passage De La Main D'Or

below: She’s printed on pre-printed paper. It appears to be a cocktail drink list written in English with Bloody Mary being the last drink on her neck. Another drink on the list is gin, lime juice, and simple syrup.

graffiti pasteup, drawing of young woman on a page torn from a book

below: William Njo, aka NJO 972

black stencil artwork on stone wall, woman portrait by William Njo

below: Many little things. At the very top is a brightly coloured Stoeyes image of a young woman with a blue face. Just below her are three “tourists” with their phones and their Paris bags drawn by Erwan Guerroué.

below: “Love My Life” by Nevoul Art

Love my Life text beside image of smiling girl

2 slaps on a wall in grey tones, one is a father and son waking away, walking together. The other is a drawing of an animal

below: Mosiac tile shapes, a running person who’s hard to see, and a black and white photo in the top right corner. The photo shows a woman standing outside a building and smoking a cigarette. It has been given the title Respiro and it is signed Les Vies Dansent.

collection of graffiti on a wall, some tile mosaics, a black and white photo, and a

a trail of broken pieces

Posted on September 20, 2023 by Mary C

…rearranged into mosaics.

Starting back in 1985, “Mosaic Man” Jim Power began covering street poles in East Village (New York City) with mosaics of broken pieces of ceramics, coloured glass, bits of mirror, and other little treasures. The trail follows E. 8th – St Marks Place between Broadway and Tompkins Square Park.

below: Over the years, some of the poles were removed by the city and others were damaged. Back in 2017 a Go Fund Me page was set up to help Power restore the poles.

mosaics on outdoor street lamp posts, East Village mosaic trail

below: At the corner of 2nd Ave and East 8th Street (where it is St. Marks Place).

mosaics on outdoor street lamp posts, East Village mosaic trail, some pieces of broken ceramics have Japanese theme images on them

mosaics on outdoor street lamp posts, East Village mosaic trail, some pieces are made into letters that spell words on the poles

below: At 3rd Ave and East 8th Street

mosaics on outdoor street lamp posts, East Village mosaic trail, picture of a man, Rasputin of the bronx

mosaics on outdoor street lamp posts, East Village mosaic trail, yellow pieces make letter to spell St. Marks

ceramics on a lamp pole, woman standing beside, some of the maosaics spell words in blue, records, taylor, mead, also a red glass star on white

mosaics on two lamp posts, one closer and in focus, the other in the background, some people standing on the sidewalk too

mosaics on a pole, glass beads, squares, pink coloured lego figure that has been damaged,

More information can be found on the East Village Mosaic Trail website.
Photos taken August 2023

Almonds and Wine on Bathurst

Posted on November 25, 2022 by Mary C

“Almonds and Wine” was a short (5 minute) animated film by Arnie Lipsey. It is the retelling of a Yiddish folk song about a wedding of a couple from Eastern Europe. In the film the newlyweds emigrate to Canada and become part of Toronto’s Jewish community. In turn, their children grow up, marry, and have their own children.

Using scenes from the film, a mosaic mural was created that now lines a section of sidewalk on Bathurst Street. It was designed to look like a strip of film with black lines between the frames as well as the sprockets along the edges.

Almonds and wine mosaic title panel, based on the animated film by Arnie Lipsey

scene from a Jewish wedding, bride and groom held up in the air on chairs

scene from a mosaic mural like a film, with sections and sprockets, a group is heading to a synagogue for a wedding

section on Bathurst Street with mosaic by Cristina Delago

three men dancing, with their backs together supporting each other as they kick their legs out with arms folded

mosaic, Mural Routes, Almond and wine, passover dinner scene, in a film witn sprockets

a scene from almonds and wine animated film, turned into a mosaic picture by Cristina Delago, two men protest, carrying placards,

Mosaic Artist: Cristina Delago. The mural was completed in 2010.

This post also appears in As I Walk Toronto blog.

Photos taken November 2022

graffiti pieces, Paris

Posted on November 19, 2022 by Mary C

below: Near rue Liban, Bar Populaire with a wall of graffiti.

below: In a circle of knives and with a Medusa head of snakes,

below: Another Laszlo piece – Stern looking portrait of Wednesday Addams from the “Addams Family” TV series.

below: A column of paper pieces

on an outdoor wall, 6 paper pieces of graffiti

below: The top two, both on pages of old books. Top – a heart with “Aimez-sous Bordel” with a multicoloured figure by Corine Forest. On the bottom, drawings by Sulfid

below: More Corine Forest – this time a bird on a page of of music along with a little monster character by Axo. Mam’zelle Nitouche is the music that was chosen (or happened upon?). This is a vaudeville-opérette in three acts composed by in 1883 Hervé (aka Louis-Auguste Florimond Ronger (1825-1892)).

On the bottom – a dove in a heart shape full of white cursive love. “Go Love Anybody Anywhere Anytime”. A little saccharine but sort of sweet.