faces near Roma Termini

Posted on March 15, 2020 by Mary C

There is a cluster of murals featuring people’s faces near Roma Termini, the central train station. More specifically, at the intersection of Via Giovanni Giolitti and Via Alfredo Cappellini. Many of these are the work of Mauro Sgabri.

below: “Divine Welcome” by Sgarbi – Dante on the right and an immigrant woman on the left, face to face.

motorcycle parked in front of a wall with a mural by Mauro Sgarbi, green background, called Divine Welcome, Dante on one side, an immigrant woman on the other

below: On the left is “Gaetano” repainted in 2019 (by Sgarbi). On the right is a portrait by beet root, aka Riccardo Beetroot, of Trilussa, an Italian poet whose name was actually Carlo Alberto Saulstri (1871-1950). He is shown here surrounded by some of the words from “Felicita”, one of his more famous poems.

motorcycle parked in front of two mural of men's faces. one on the left is a just face, man with mustache called Gaetano. The other is an older man with Italian words written around him

C’è un’ape che se posa
su un bottone de rosa:
lo succhia e se ne va…
Tutto sommato, la felicità
è una piccola cosa.

below: Another portrait by Sgarbi, this time ‘Manzi the teacher”. Alberto Manzi was an Italian teacher who gave Italian lessons on TV in the 1960s and 1970s.

below: … with the body of a man but with the head of a goat

a mural of a person shoulders up except that there is a goat's head instead of a human head, arms and hands are human, wearing a red shirt,

below: The last two paintings in this area, by unknown artists

paper paste up, poster, ghosts, in black and white, on a concrete wall

by the Chinatown gate

Posted on March 14, 2020 by Mary C

below: “May an Old Song Open an Old Door” is a bright mural that catches your attention as you approach the entrance to Montreal’s Chinatown at Rene Levesque Blvd and St. Laurent. A woman holding a yellow lily stands between two red masks, one represents optimism for the future and the other represents nostalgia for a past left behind.

large Chinatown mural of a Chinese woman in flowered costume, with red and white masks on either side of her, one side happy and one side sad. mural is beside a large gate as entrance to Chinatown. Other side of mural is a traditional Chinese paiting with calligraphy and some pink blossoms

below: A close up of the opera singer in the center of the mural that was produced by MU and painted by Gene Pendon and Bryan Beyung in 2015. MU is an organization whose “mission is to beautify the city of Montreal by creating murals that are anchored in local communities.”

Chinese woman in mural, pink bow at her neck, flowers in her bonnet

below: A more traditional Chinese painting based on calligraphy

mural on a wall by a sidewalk and small tree, Chinese calligraphy in black and grey, some small pale pink flowers

below: “Salut Gilles” by Benny Wilding, a tribute to F1 driver Gilles Villeneuve. Unfortunately, a lot of it has been tagged over including the painting of the racing car.

looking across snow covered park to a mural that has been tagged over except for eyes on a green face behind a mask and a black and white figure in a cockpit as well as black and white checkered flag in upper right corner, Montreal buildings behind the mural

a mural that has been tagged over except for eyes on a green face behind a mask and a black and white figure in a cockpit

car parked in front of a on the end of a brown brick building, a mural of people walking on large noodles that are coming out of a very large ladle

below: Serving up noodles with a giant ladle.

on the end of a brown brick building, a mural of people walking on large noodles that are coming out of a very large ladle

All Amman

Posted on March 2, 2020 by Mary C

This is the last of the Amman blog posts

I have made a video of all the street art that I saw when I was in Jordan and it is on youtube WordPress didn’t like it when I tried to embed the video in this post.

Before I went to Amman I found @ammanstreetart on instagram. Check it out! It is the creation of Dina Toukan and Leen Al-Haddad, two young women trying to raise awareness of the wonderful street art in their city. I would like to thank them for giving me suggestions as to where to start looking when I went hunting back in January.

All of the artwork in the video appears in this blog as well and these are all the links to the relevant pages (plus the last few photos at the bottom of this post):

aptART gender equality
Breaking the Silence
colours and people on the stairs
crushing cars & flying blue spaceships
faces on Nemr Al-Edwan street
folklore on a mannequin
four Batmans and an old man’s bird
Jadal and Al-Kalha stairs
large murals in Al Hashmi Al Shamali
little things
Mig the robot
pink flamingo
potted plants and umbrellas
Suhaib Attar’s women
walls of Terra Sancta College, Baladk 2016
What will I be?

red bird in a birdcage, mural on a wall by a parking lot

bird in a birdcage that is the shape of a person's head, mural

below: by Zein

a painting by Zein of a woman's head, wearing blue eye mask, with curved horns

street art on a wall in Amman

skateboarder as viewed from under the board during a jump, street art

street art of a skate boarder

curvy figure of a young man, with long arms, ‘ mural on a wall of two hands clenched together that look like a tree trunk, with green leaves growing out of the top

large murals in Al Hashmi Al Shamali

Posted on February 15, 2020 by Mary C

Most of the murals in this area of Amman were painted as part of one of the annual Baladk Urban Arts Festivals held in collaboration with the Al Balad Theatre. These festivals started in 2013 – the murals that I saw here were all from 2017 through 2019.

below: In the foreground is a large mural by Fintan Magee. (2018)
three large murals in a row, in the foreground is one of a girl by Finton Magee, the next is an old woman with a red circle in the background and the third is a colourful woman with ribbons by Dina Saadi

below: by Suhaib Attar, 2017

large mural of a woman in black and white and grey tones, with a large red circle behind her head

below: “Reflections” painted by Dubai-based artist Dina Saadi as part of Baladk 2018

large mural in Amman of a woman looking in a hand held mirror, with hair tied in two buns and lots of colourful ribbons around her head

close up of the head, a woman in profile, in the mural painted by Dina Saadi

below: A portrait of Jordanian artist Suhaib Attar painted by French artist Don Mateo

large mural in Al Hashmi Al Shamali in Amman of a man in black and red

below: This girl with the orange and green is also by Don Mateo.

large murals in Amman

close up of a mural, a girls face, on a wall with two windows, one of the windows has two flower pots

below: Local vocals. This is not part of Baladk but I couldn’t find any more information on the mural – who painted it or whose portraits these are.

white background, blue paint, mural of a music group with 5 members, part of local vocals

below: From 2019, a blue haired woman by ZiNk aka Ibtehal Al Dous

a turquoise truck is parked on a residential street in Amman beside a mural of woman with blue hair and a purple jacket, she has her eyes closed

below: A large portrait by Hombre, aka Pablo Fontagnier (Baladk 2018)

fontal portrait of a person with short black hair and green eyes

below: “Imagine” by sourati – Imagine to believe in yourself. Imagine to step beyond limitations and try something new. (2019)

large mural of a woman wearing a grey top, eyes closed and dreaming of doves, the title is imagine and it was painted by sourati, on the side of a large building in Amman

below: A whimsical drawing by sourati – a man, a woman, and a cat all with their heads sticking out of the roof of their own little houses.

small street art on a concrete wall, whimsical drawings by sourati of people in small houses withtheir heads sticking out of the roofs , a moon in the sky and also a cat sticking its head out of a small house,

below: And last, I am not sure what the word says, but she seems to have a hole where her heart should be.

muddied old mural on a wall around a courtyard, a car parked beside

Casablanca slideshow

Posted on November 25, 2019 by Mary C

I have recently uploaded a video to youtube that I made with all the pictures that I took of street art in Casablanca. You can find the link to the street art here.

Casablanca seawall

Posted on November 14, 2019 by Mary C

There is a path that runs along the shore of the Atlantic Ocean, leading to the new Hassan 2 mosque. Beside the path is a wall that has been painted with street art. When I walked here in October 2019, these are the murals that I saw. I have only been able to identify some of the artists.

women leaning against railing on path beside the ocean in Casablanca, with Hassan 2 mosque and Atlantic Ocean in the background

below: “Oxymoron” by iramo aka Iramo Samir

woman's head and shoulders, mural by Iramo Samir called Oxymoron, most of her face is covered with flowers, lower part of face and shoulders is blue water with a person who seems to be drowning

below: Like all the murals on this wall, this one is looking out to sea

stylized painting of a black face with yellow mouth, blue around one eye, red hair,

mural on a wall in Casablanca, blue woman's face with black cloth around top of head

below: A man in a purple camo hat, by Majid aka Majid El Bahar

man's head, mural, wearing a purple camo hat and a black top with lots of white squiggles on it. A rope winds its way through the image

below: Casablanca plus text (artist’s tag) by TRUST

text graffiti by trust also with word casablanca and some scenes from that city

below: By Moka 187

mural by vida moka of a topless man with orange pants, mask over face, teapot in one hand, running,

sea wall, with path below, beside the Atlantic Ocean in Casablanca, with Hassan 2 mosque in the background

below: Would you kiss a shark? Even one that claims to love his mom? mural of a shark with toothy grin, words that say I want a kiss. Shark is holding a broom, has smd written on chest, as well as a red heart with word mom on it black line drawing mural on a wall, with faces

below: Close up of a man’s eyes and nose, signed as Senzoclouds aka Senzo or Mr. Clouds.

mural, close up of man's eyes and nose by Senzoclouds, senzo, mr clouds mural with woman in purple shirt and turquoise hat, holding arm in front of her face, mural two men sitting in front of a mural with woman in pink shirt and turquoise hat, holding arm in front of her face

a breown animal in profile, mouth open wide as it roars. a bear maybe

a dog-like creature wearing a baseball cap is spray painting a tag on a wall, mural

Casablanca, at Socrate et Ali Abderrazak

Posted on November 3, 2019 by Mary C

As you walk toward the intersection of Blvd Socrate and Blvd Ali Abderrazak the large murals there come into view.
a man walks along a wide sidewalk, walking towards buildings with large colourful murals

3 large murals at a Casablanca intersection, one in front is woman with many layered face

below: The mural in front is “Facing Forward” and it was painted by Moroccan artist Majid El Bahar; it was part of Sbagha Bagha, an annual street art festival in Casablanca.

large mural of womens faces in different horizontal stripes close up of eye in mural with satelite dishes on the building looking up at large mural from the bottom, womens faces,

The two murals behind the women were painted for Casamouja 2019. This is an annual “urban art wave” and murals in 5 locations were/are part of this year’s event (between 20 Sept and 25 Nov). The first location was at this intersection where there were 4 large murals. Casamouja is a public programme started in 2016 for the promotion of street art in various districts of Casablanca.

In the middle is a mural of a man falling past a white, pink, and red background that was painted by OLDR

a large vertical mural by oldr of a man falling backwards past pink and white clouds. Falling with him is a blue dog, a car, and some logs