Brunswick

Posted on October 7, 2025 by Mary C

Brunswick is one of the suburbs of Melbourne; it is north of the Central Business District.

below: One of the murals painted on the side of an older building on Sydney Road. This is the Retreat Hotel and the mural was painted by Buff Diss.

cyclist cycling past a street art mural on the side of an old two storey building on Sydney Road in Brunswick

below: Treaty” and “Teach Black history” JESWRI (aka Jesse Wright) on the side of another older building on Sydney Road. There is a Korean BBQ restaurant on the lower level although most of the building looks a bit decrepit.

street art mural on the side of an old two storey building on Sydney Road in Brunswick

below: A series of paintings in shades of gray with a large pointy mountain in the back.

below: “Tram Kangaroo” by Mike Maka. One very large kangaroo hops along beside an old abandoned Melbourne tram (route 19, which runs along Sydney Road) in this dystopian future scene.

below: A closer look …

below: Not such an old building this time.. on the side of the Savers store is a mural by Danielle Weber. A pair of hands is trying to pull back the gray wall to reveal a tropical scene hiding behind it.

below: Zatira (aka Katherine Gailer). has used a palette of vivid colours in this mural dedicated to Teresa Bruno, a well known local chef and owner of Zia Teresa Restaurant (Italian).

throw up type street art in Brunswock, abstract shapes and colours,

below: Protest type poster where the mayor is shielded from the people by layers of armed police. People are too mesmerized by what is on their screens to care.

below: Uprooted police cars.

below: “The colony will fail”.

Photos taken February 2025

panda, dragon, and a foxy lady

Posted on March 30, 2025 by Mary C

Baptist Place, Melbourne
One small section of a yellow wall.

below: him: I’ve waited a long time to carry you over the threshold, her: Finally a tent of our own!

below: It doesn’t take many lines to make a compelling portrait.

below: Two simple but cute puppies selling their wares.

below: Two Marilyns

below: upper: “Without leaving my House I know the whole universe.” Panda Philosophy. lower: T-bonez rides with trp613 (aka Ty Pro), Visual Noise & Urban Ninja Squadron.

below: A little dragon creature, by stenandoli

below: The sad grey man with the very long arms and bad posture is another creation of stenandoli. In the middle is an Australian White Ibis by tweet – I wonder what it is trying to say to the cat?

below: A foxy lady, by Susi Foxy Art, aka Susi Luard.

below: Carried away by a yellow balloon…..

below: left: “T Phobia is rooted in White Supremacy” with a purple flower. middle: “Don’t be dick”, with a yellow flower. right: He seems to be holding a fish. Seems fishy?

below: Look out everyone, there’s an angry looking Blastoise pokemon character coming your way!

below: Think!

Photos taken February 2025

Santa Batman and friends

Posted on March 27, 2025 by Mary C

Batman delivers. Unfortunately, the image below is cut off but the words say, “Oh Clark, the Christmas street art is amazing!”

batman flies over a house with a big sack on his back, and drops a toy down a chimney, graffiti street art

And Christmas street art it is, a whole double door in Hosier Lane covered with Christmas themed graffiti, stickers, and paste-ups – part of the Melbourne Street Art Collective meet-up on 15th December 2024.

Hoier Lane, Melbourne, double doors, completely covered with CHristmas themed stickers, paste ups, street art,

“Have a crackin’ good Christmas” nutcracker by Lisa D. as well as a Christmas tree full of guitars. The “pin-up women” Christmas images are the work of Srta~Dolores. In the bottom right corner is a painting of a woman done on a drinks list menu; Moscow Mules, Bellinis, Brambles, and Dark and Stormys for $9 each. It is the work of Jimzina

Christmas theme graffiti

Minnie Mouse and a grandmotherly Mrs. Claus make an appearance along with another Lisa D. illustration, this time candy canes.

Christmas theme graffiti - a woman wearing candy cane earrings, and a pink sweater covered with little candy canes

below: Rock on Santa, love the cool shades. The yellow LEGO guys have “SAH” on their jackets – Street Art Hunters!

Santa Claus in sunglasses, a squirrel wearing a Santa hat, two men in yellow uniforms in Santa hats, graffiti in Hosier Lane

below: “Gnome means gnome.”, Homer Simpson as Santa Claus, and Robbo-t gets dressed up like an elf.

Homer Simpson as Santa Claus and elf on a shelf as a robot, sticker that says your bod is magic, graffiti in hosier lane

below: Batman is still delivering gifts but now he’s wearing a special Batman Christmas sweater. A very Australian koala looks on.

Christmas theme graffiti including Batman in a Christmas sweater and carrying a big bag of toys on his back, also image of snowman sledding down a snow covered hill

below: This Santa wears big pink glasses and a rainbow hat.

short little santa claus with big pink glasses and black boots, his hat is rainbow coloured

below: Bart Simpson spray paints a Christmas message while Lisa Simpson stands by.

Bart Simpson spray painting Christmas messages as graffiti, Lisa Simpson in a Santa hat.

below: The bottom of the image is cut off, and a blob of blue spray paint gets in the way, I’m afraid, but there is a pink and white cowboy boot filled with Christmas goodies by Alice Mole. Also here, SAH – Street Art Hunters, ‘playing cards’ with Rudolf the Red-nosed Reindeer….

below: I think that it’s Marilyn Munroe surrounded by shiny Christmas baubles.

below: Santa Sleighs

below: Even pokemon characters celebrate Christmas, as do the characters from ‘The Nightmare before Christmas’.

Christmas theme graffiti including characters from the Nightmare Before Christmas, a pokemon character, and some Santa gnomes with text

Santa gnomes with text: “Damn we’d like a kiss from a beauty like you. Come on mistletoe, work your magic” and top right: “With looks that hot, you’re melting any chance of a White Christmas”. These were brought to you by the Complimentary Nuts

below: Santa and Mrs. Claus baking in the kitchen together – maybe they’re making gingerbread men!

christmas theme graffiti, gingerbread cookies, Santa and Mrs. Claus baking in the kitchen together

below: Santa celebrates a successful night of sleigh driving and toy delivering with a well deserved day at the beach with a friendly kookaburra and a playful platypus. christmas theme graffiti, Santa on the beach with a surf board

below: “It’s okay to say No, No, No” by Katie Ruby

Santa says

Photos taken early March 2025

Link

Looking back 10 years ago …..

Aires Libres and Outdoor Street Sales along Rue Sainte- Catherine, Montreal, on a sunny Sunday afternoon. There were many booths with different styles of art for sale. I stopped at a few of them.

Zepol Art, Marie-Pier Lopes (instagram page)

Denial Art (instagram page)

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and things that weren’t art!

Photos taken in the summer of 2014. I am in the process of removing the street art pages that were on my Toronto blog.

abandoned site, Baldwin & Spadina

Posted on January 18, 2025 by Mary C

There once was a building on the southwest corner of Spadina Ave and Baldwin (Toronto). That building is long gone but the hoardings around the vacant lot have become a home for graffiti. Although advertising posters sometimes take over some of the space, there is often new graffiti too.

This is what was there in January 2025.

below: The Last Laugh by Nigel Smith.

below: Paste-ups on plywood. On the left – a City Kitty character in big pink frame glasses (and what’s that on his head?!). Small black and white pasteups include Visual Noise with Urban Ninja Squadron.

below: WOW! He is not dead yet. Live! Let Live!

below: Two pieces by Bao aka (Bao Pham) who seems to like to mix cultural icons that aren’t usually associated with each other.

below: “Fab Four Troopers” Quebec highway sign

below: “Return of the Boom Bap Trooper”

below: A woman’s portrait among the advertisements.

below: “Frida Moss”, A Frida Kahlo and Kate Moss mash-up, also by Bao

below: A green catchoo looking atch you

below: Ouch! Another Urban Ninja Squadron paste-up, this one in collaboration with Dio Tha Dog.
\Photos taken January 2025

Photos taken January 2025
This post also appears in As I Walk Toronto blog

Lynn posters

Posted on September 20, 2024 by Mary C

As I walked around Lynn I spotted a few posters on display, all of which dealt with the Covid pandemic that started back in 2020. You might be able to make an argument that these aren’t exactly street art but I think that their roots are firmly in the art community.

below: This is a copy of a much larger mural that first appeared in Amsterdam. “Super Nurse” is the creation of FAKE (aka Manuel Seikritt).

covid pandemic poster in Lynn Massachusetts, copy of super nurse, a large mural in amsterdam

below: On the left – Unsung Heroes by Randy Stolinas – a thankful shout out to all those in the service industries who were also essential workers. On the right, useful, and still relevant, advice from Ed Wainaina

two covid pandemic posters in Lynn Massachusetts, unsung heroes thank you to essential workers in the service industry as well as a reminder to wash your hands

below: A copy of Shepherd Fairey’s (aka Obey) “We the People; Protect Each Other”

covid pandemic poster in Lynn Massachusetts, by obey aka shepherd fairey, picture of young woman, in blues and reds with text, we the people protect each other

below: Manoel Enrique (aka Fizz) designed this poster to remind everyone to wash their hands.

Photos taken August 2024

Ostiense bridge – another section

Posted on January 25, 2024 by Mary C

My last post, Under an Ostiense railway bridge, showed some of the graffiti and street art that I saw there a few years ago. This post includes more photos of the artwork (and scribbles) that were seen. There was a lot! Even this is only a small portion of the total.

below: Piramide

poster graffiti under a bridge, text says piramide

below: Project Qwerty’s alien in a cage

graffiti under a bridge, qwerty, blue alien-like figure with red high heels sitting in a birdcage

below: Disgusto is the name/word on this.

graffiti posters under a bridge, signed disgusto,

below: Leonardo Crudi 900 poster on the bottom and BVKA on the right .

graffiti under a bridge

below: Foto star Ostiense photo of a woman between a large yellow mushroomy fungus type guy and BVKA who puts the same black head on most of his work.

below: Closer look at Leonardo Crudi 900,

below: The angel resting her head on a trash bin, Cancelletto (aka Rizio Ticenco)

graffiti under a bridge

graffiti on a concrete wall under a bridge

below: He says “Smile!” but the croc is not interested.

below: Icarus on the bottom and a greenish crocodile face on the left. I am not sure what the woman is doing or thinking but that looks like a very long cigarette in her hand.

below: Factory mart and abstract art.

below: Plant a tree; Plant a life.

Treeftsteeg

Posted on November 30, 2023 by Mary C

There are a number of lanes and passageways that connect the canals/roads Singel and Herengracht in central Amsterdam. One of the narrowest of them is Treeftsteeg.

below: Entrance to the alley, from Herengracht.

Various messages and symbols of peace – “I Love Kherson”, a girl waving a large Ukranian flag, “Love no War” (Love not war?), a white dove with wings of blue and gold, “Love makes a house a home”. In addition (under the word Kherson) there is a portrait of George Yurri Shevelov (1908-2002). His CV is long but in general he is most known for his research proving that the Ukrainian language has a separate history from Russian.

below: The portrait of the man in the top left corner is of Taras Shevchenko (1814 – 1861), a famous Ukrainian poet. Moving right, the woman at the top with the orange background is the former Queen of the Netherlands, Queen Beatrix. Third from the left is Ukrainian writer and feminist Lesya Ukrainka whose work spanned the late 1800s and early 1900s. On the right side there is an image of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy although it is not the clearest picture.

anti war, pro Ukraine graffiti in an alley

below: Commemorating the sinking of the Moskva, a Russian ship in the Black Sea near the beginning of the war.

below: arrow showing the way to Kharkiv

below: caricatures

below: The narrowness of Treeftsteeg. Along with the pro-Ukraine messages, there are a few black and white portraits.

bicycles parked and leaning against walls in a very narrow alley

below: These portraits are part of “A Paper Monument to the Paperless” is an ongoing project headed by Dutch artist Domenique Himmelsbach de Vries.

portraits, posters on an alley wall, part of A Paper Monument to the Paperless, a project by Domenique Himmelsbach de Vries

no more

Posted on July 16, 2023 by Mary C

On a Paris wall, I saw graffiti posters by Street Art Rebellion, a group of 48 artists and 18 partner organizations. Their Conquistador is sailing blind, he has his binoculars but he’s covered his eyes. They have produced many posters like this for their #loveplanet project, many of which can be seen on their Instagram page. Mankind’s relationship with nature and other such environmental issues feature heavily. Eight of the nine posters shown here start with a quote that is then illustrated.

below: A closer look at three of the posters. From left to right:
1. “L’homme a mange la terre” by JB Fressoz [translation: Man ate the Earth]
2. “Si vous pensez vraiment que notre environnement est moins important que nore economie, essayez juste d’arreter de respirer le temps de compter votre argent” by Guy McPherson (promoter of Near-Term Human Extinction, which predicts human extinction by 2026 [translation: “If you really think our environment is less important than our economy, just try to stop breathing while you count your money.]
3. “Si vous n’avez pas peur, c’est que vous n’avez pas compris” by Rob Hopkins (English activist and writer on environmental issues) [translation: If you’re not afraid, you don’t understand]

below: Two posters
1. left: “Maintenant, la seule croissance que nous supportons sera celle des arbres et des enfants” quote by Alain Damasio [translation: “Now the only growth we support will be trees and children]
2. right: “C’est une triste chose de songer que la nature parle et que genre human n l’ecoute pas” quote by Victor Hugo [translation: “It’s a sad thing to think that nature speaks and that mankind does not listen to it.]

below: “Tout seul plus vite ensemble plus loin” Extinction Rebellion [translation: All alone faster, together further]

below: “A l’echelle planetaire, cent multinationales sont responsables de 70% des emission de gaz efffet de serre” Manuel Cervera_Marzal [translation: On a planetary scale, one hundred multinationals are responsible for 70% of greenhouse gas emissions”]

Photos taken March 2023

five little posters on a wall

Posted on March 26, 2023 by Mary C

…. with a story to tell about Alice complete with the Queen of Hearts (no tarts though), a White Rabbit and a grinning Cheshire Cat. But it’s not Alice in Wonderland, instead it’s Alice Au Pays du Street Art.

5 posters on an outside wall, each with a painting on it

below: With a mask and a feather in his tophat, Atelier Waladou’s black and white linocut along with the Queen of Hearts who wants sentencing first and verdict after (by Nevoul Art)

black and white linocut picture of a person in a mask and a top hat with a feather in it. a second poster is the queen of hearts from alice in wonderland or alice through the looking glass

below: All Alice stories need a white rabbit, or rather un lapin blanc when in Paris. In this case, it was provided by Glauc‘ who has given him a pocket watch,an egg timer, and at least five wrist watches so he can watch the time. He mustn’t be late! Le lapin blanc face au temps.

painting of a white rabbit with a pocket watch over one eye, a big red bowtie, an egg timer in one hand, 5 wrist watches around his arm, long white ears, a green jacket

below: The Cheshire Cat is grinning ear to ear as it asks to be taken to Wonderland but left in Neverland. It was painted by LiAXrt. And last is Alice in her pink outfit with a red bottle of “drink me” potion and a brown “eat me” cookie.

2 poster on a wall, one is a large picture of a cat face and the other is a girl in pink and purple, Alice