Tag Archives: stencil

Dusseldorf, big and small

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… a few things seen as I walked around Dusseldorf on a rainy day.

below: At the train station – not really street art? But it’s a colourful addition to a grey platform.

below: One of the original pieces of street art in Dusseldorf is this large yellow Monkey that appears to be painted by a group of smaller monkeys. It was painted in 1969 by the Majo Brothers. The title is, appropriately “Affe” which is German for monkey. You could probably call it Der Gelbe Affe, or the Yellow Monkey.

below: Joseph Beuys is memorialized in this large portrait – he was a native of Dusseldorf who was influential in the development of the city from the 1960s until his death in 1986. One of his famous phrases is, “Everyone is an artist”.

street art mural in Dusseldorf Germany

below: Complex and largely symmetrical in shades of pink and purple is one way to describe this mural by HowNosm (or How & Nosm), a partnership between brothers Raoul and Davide Perre.

street art mural in Dusseldorf Germany
street art mural in Dusseldorf Germany

below: This is a large-scale, monochrome mural realistically depicting a person’s feet as they stand. They are wearing old boots (or shoes) and you can also see the bottom of their pant legs in the image. The artist was Hendrik Beikirch (aka ECB).

street art mural in Dusseldorf Germany, by Hendrik Beikirch, monochrome, boots and bottom of pants leg, on the side of a building

below: “Meat is Murder” he says as he holds out a sausage.

rough street art painting in Dusseldorf Germany, green male figure holding a sausage in one hand, text on painting says meat is murder
throw up wild style urban art

below: “No more wore” written on the Ukrainian flag.

graffiti of blue and yellow ukrainian flag

below: Floral dog on a black and white slap, image by Christin Wenga.

black and white graffiti slap on pole, image of a dog, by Christin Wenga

below: Sad face with a blotch of yellow on his forehead.

graffiti portrait, sad face

below: “Nix Gelernt?” Nothing Learned?

graffiti sticker with words, Hans, nix gelernt?

below: In the center, raising the flag but it has been altered from the original photograph of the American the flag being raised at Iwo Jima on 23 Feb 1945 to an Anarchist flag. In the bottom corner is a small League of Legends sticker

graffiti slaps on a pole in Dusseldorf

below: His burning inside produces enough hot air to keep him afloat. There is a word written on his T-shirt which might give some clue as to the artist who created this large paste-up but I haven’t been able to find any answers online.

black line drawing graffiti of a large balloon headed character, hot air in balloon is making him float through the air

below: The thirteen of hearts and a pinwheel of robotic arms.

Three graffiti slaps, one is a line drawing of a mobile phone, another is a playing card thirteen of hearts, and the other is a pinwheel or gear cog made of robot arms or gloves in a circle

below: mmm

graffiti face on a brick wall, very pink face, yellow eyes, and open small mouth

below: A bright green potted barrel cactus “growing” on a concrete wall.

paper paste up wheatpaste on concrete wall, a bright green barrel cactus in a pot,

below: Another dusseldorf monkey, not so big this time.

a monkey sticker on a grey metal pole

below: A lot of advice packed into a small space. “Don’t Panic”, “Be Big”, as well as “Never ever on a first date”.

6 graffiti posters hung together on a concrete wall, most have text - don't panic, you the people have the power, be big, never ever on a first date,

below: Red head.

red stencil of a woman with long hair, seen in profile, also a small red heart beneath the portrait

below: Framed twice.

old brick building with boarded up windows, windows used as frames for 2 paper paste up wheatpaste graffiti pieces, on left is cartoon character in blue, on the right is bald headed person with garland of flowers around head, head only, no body

below: For aspiring photographers – here is one way to display your work. Do you think that is effective? Worth the effort?

many coloured photos mounted on large white sheets of paper or bristol board, and then mounted on plywood, displayed outside

close up of part of one panel, many coloured photos mounted on large white sheets of paper or bristol board, and then mounted on plywood, displayed outside

below: I’m not sure who it is, but they have very big black and blue lace-up shoes.

Dusseldorf slaps - bright sticker of characted with big blue and black lace up running shoes

below: “Love will tear us apart”

Dusseldorf slaps - some graffiti slaps on a wall including a yellow square with words, love will tear us apart, also diamond shape face with big red mouth, turquise top, black and white striped bottom, blue eyes,

Photos taken November 2025

Carson Place

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Another Melbourne alley with lots of street art.

below: A royal looking lion painted by Michael Che Romero. This Lion King mural was painted back in 2019 and was sponsored by Vivache Designs (note, Romero is/was their Creative Director).

mural on a brick wall in Carson Place, a lion's head, wearing a crown, painted by Michael Che Romero

below: Like most of the black and white stencils on this page, this is the work of King of the Clowder.

street art in Carson Place, an alley in central Melbourne, stencil by King of Clowder, and a vertical row of black and white photos of Melbourne

below: A closer look at two of the photos by monomelbourne that are seen in the vertical column in the above picture. On the bottom – Looking from Alexandra Gardens, across the river to St. Pauls Cathedral.

two black and white photos my monomelbourne, of melbourne scenes, as posters on exterior wall in alley

below: Joined together under a ring of thorns or barbed wire.

street art in Carson Place, an alley in central Melbourne

below: Many Melbournes with 3 posters with slightly twisted humour. Top – “What’s yours is mine”, Middle – “Mortgage Stress? Sell your kids (& mum), Bottom: “Last Christmas I gave you my heart, Give it back!”

street art in Carson Place, an alley in central Melbourne

below: Disease, but upside down

street art in Carson Place, an alley in central Melbourne

below: Dating from at least 2019, another King of the Clowder artwork that looks very Freddie Mercury-ish

street art in Carson Place, an alley in central Melbourne
street art in Carson Place, an alley in central Melbourne

below: The original King of the Clowder piece of the headless hoodie has been added to and now has a scowling face on a big fat head. A can of “squirt black” is still adding to his features.

street art in Carson Place, an alley in central Melbourne

below: mmm

several graffiti pieces on an alley wall

below: “Anyone can be any gender”… whether or not you agree, the world goes on.

street art in Carson Place, an alley in central Melbourne

below: Tintin, with something red in his hand, makes an appearance here too.

graffiti paper art featuring image of Tintin, the character from the French book

below: Tweety bird and his More Magikal Alphabets including Persian Hieroglyphics from Tweet (tweet_streetart)

small paper poster graffiti, with tweety bird cartoon character holding a balloon, on the paper is a listing of 3 different alphabets

below: Multiples

King of the clowder stencil graffiti

below: A weird and wacky green creature by Lukas Kasper

mural in a Melbourne alley, by Lukas Kasper, of a large green insect like creature with wings

below: Am I my own actions and intentions, or others perspectives? An interesting question posed by Current Remains.

small graffiti, cartoon drawing by current remains which asks the question, Am I my own actions and intentions, or others perspectives?

below: Skateboard art – Putting an old skateboard to good use!

graffiti on an old skateboard mounted on a wall in an alley

below: Stay weird!

sticker on a pole, black on white, image of woman with four eyes, also two blackbirds, one on either side of her head, with text that says stay weird

Photos taken March 2025

behind Ossington

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Moooo…. Hey there good looking!…  Here’s looking at you!  This was painted by Poser.  Usually he does bunny rabbits but I think that he’s pretty good at painting cows too!

street art mural of a black and white cow looking at you, on a garage

For a number of years now, there has been a lot of street art and graffiti in an alley that runs behind the east side of Ossington starting at Queen Street and ending one block north at Humbert. Some of it is interesting; some is not. A few garages and walls look the same as they did 12 or 13 years ago so some of these photos may look similar to older photos used in this blog.

below: In the background, an untitled piece by Caratoes.  It was one of 5 murals painted in Toronto in 2016 for the “Sea Walls: Artists for Oceans” series.  In total, there were over 500 murals in 20 countries in this series.

graffiti on a wall in many colours, with a large grey tones mural in the background.

below: Six lit matches ready to go.  This crazy cat is up to something no good…

mural on a fence, a grey cat with matches in his mouth, playing with a bottle

below: An early Birdo piece, although the scroll names or street artists too.  The first street art in the alley dates from 2012 when a group of artists painted some of the garages here.

older mural by birdo, two creatures standing together on a rusty garage door in an alley

below: A pink rose between two women.

pink rose sprayed painted on green wood, beside a figure dressed in white paste up

below: Another oldie – this purple guy has been blowing a gust of wind for many years.

old graffiti on a wall

below: Vintage Spud bombs, some cheerful and some menacing.

spud bombs street art, little grey bombs with cheery faces, on a wall in an alley behind ossington avenue

below: A funny looking green creature with big white eyes and lots of skinny legs.

street art mural

below: A couple, together in the stream, in a mural by Elicser Elliott with the title “Swim”

street art mural by elicser elliott of two people, man and woman, in purple stream, title is swim

below: Geometric shapes with a touch of rainbow colour, by Peru

on a garage in an alley, painting by artist called peru,

part of a street art mural, man that looks ancient greek or roman sitting, holding a large pot, wearing a toga and sandals

below: Large pink and white swirls and curls cover a wall. Any time that you see swirls like these, think Flips because that’s sure to be the artist that painted them.

pink and white swirls and curls, mural in alley

below: Only a small portion of this moose painting by Aaron Li-Hill remains.  I don’t usually show the original works but I am going to make an exception here.  See next image.

old street art painting of a moose partially covered with pywood

below: This is what it looked like back in 2012 or 2013.

old street art mural by aaron li-hill of a moose with full antler rack, open mouth,

below: A newer Catchoo sticker.

little daisy sticker by catchoo on a metal pipe in an alley

below: A couple of faces taken from many faces around a garage.

below: Part of a Troy Lovegates mural (as are the next three images)

part of a Troy Lovegates mural in an alley behind Ossington, two merged heads with necks that come out of the same hole in the red and blue sweater that they are wearing. One face is yellow and the other face is half grey and half purple

part of a Troy Lovegates mural in an alley behind Ossington Avenue in Toronto. In the middle is a framed recessed box in the wall with 3 egg shapes in it

part of a Troy Lovegates mural in an alley behind Ossington Avenue in Toronto

part of a Troy Lovegates mural in an alley behind Ossington

below: Looking south. The closest garage on the right has a mural painted by Spud.

alley, with garages on one side, mural on the wall of a building on the left

below: Durothethird paints peanut butter & (probably) chocolate

street art on a garage door in an alley, peanut butter,

below: Horus, “Well and good”

street art on a garage door in an alley by horus

garages covered with street art and graffiti, in alley on west side of ossington avenue in toronto, just north of queen street west

street art on a garage door in an alley pink polka dots on red

below: At the north end of the alley

buildings in alley covered with graffiti and street art

small part of a larger painting, street art, on side of garage in an alley, three fuzzy balls, each with one eye. Balls are yellow, and a red, and one blue.

weathered street art and graffiti on a wood garage in an alley

purple line drawing in spray paint of a man, with yellow wings, graffiti added to it, alley

below: Writing on black and purple

white line drawing on black line drawing of a man with glasses and a beard, mural in an alley

below: Portrait of George Sully, Canadian designer

portrait of a young black man, with a triangle behind his head, in a mural in an alley

below: Love yourself, over and over again, and in many different colours!

on a black wall in an alley, in cursive writing, the words love yourself written in many colours, many times

below: An old stikman in a frame, weathered but still there.

weathered street art paint on wood, with a tiny wood frame, inside frame is an old stikman graffiti piece

below: Too extraterrestrial, which someone seems to love

black wall, with graffiti, hand drawn character with words too extra terrestrial,

below: And one last look ….   Looking north

alley behind ossington, on the west side, garages covered in street art and graffiti

garage in alley covered with paintings of bright flowers

Noire in Matera & Taranto

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Noire, or Stencil Noire, is an artist who has left his mark on many Italian towns and cities including the southern cities of Matera and Taranto. This is some of his artwork that I saw while walking in those cities.

below: In the town of Matera – Game Over

stencil artist Noire work, paste up

below: featuring Michel Basquiat and his work

stencil artist Noire work, paste up

below: Make love not war on the left. And on the right, Rivolterei il Mondo come un Calzino  (I would turn the world upside down like a sock)

stencil artist Noire work, paste up

below: Figli delle Stelle (Children of the stars) on the left.

stencil artist Noire work, paste up

below: Silence is complicity

stencil artist Noire work, paste up

below:  On a wall in Taranto, a blue sphere that resembles the Earth, but with a child’s face looking back at you.

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below: Another “Rivolterei il Mondo come un Calzino  (I would turn the world upside down like a sock)” but larger this time.

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blog_curly_hair_man

below: This one is not a Noire creation but there is a similar feel (protest, anger) to it as well as a similar style to the drawing and design.

stencil , woman with one fist raised, paste up

Photos taken February 2024

Barreiro train station vicinity

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Although it is a city in its own right, Barreiro seems like a suburb of Lisbon.  It is most easily accessed by a short ferry ride across the Tagus River from central Lisbon. The Barreiro  train station is next to the ferry dock.  There are now numerous murals in Barreiro in part because of a project called Art in Town run by the City Council and ADAO.

The building in the middle is ADAO Headquarters (Associação Desenvolvimento Artes e Ofícios, translation: Assoc for the Development of Arts and Crafts)

view from bridge, ADAO headquarters, an old industrial site, with street art murals on it

below: A hole in the concrete wall provides a short cut across the tracks as well as a different view of the murals painted by Gonçalo Mar (aka Gonçalo Ribeiro) and Odheit

concrete fence with part removed for a walkway, building with murals in the background

below: On the fence, a owl keeps a watchful eye on passers-by

on a concrete block wall, a street art painting of an owl's face

graffiti on a small metal box beside the railway tracks, line drawing of a man's face, frowning or scowling

black stencil on old concrete wall, portrait of a man with a mustache

below: A closer view of the ADAO Headquarters mural . The fish-like figures swimming on the walls appear frequently in Mar’s work.

mural by Mar on A D A O building by the train station in Barreiro Portugal. Hands. Fish like creatures, a big pink flower, an adult habd reaching out and touching fingers of a small child's hand, grey hexagons

below: A head with long flowing grey and turquoise hair emerges from the hexagons.

mural of the head of a grey faced older woman with eyes closed, flowing grey hair, emerging from grey and turquoise hexagons

below: Backyard view

back of an old industrial building with a small fenced in yard, old plastic chairs, graffiti on walls,

below: Punk red feathers

street art painting in a yard, a brown skinned man with red feathers in his hair and orange paint marks on his face

below: Two street art portraits; the woman on the right was painted by Pedro Pinhal

two portraits, street art, on the left in black and white, an older wrinkled faced man while on the right in colour, a younger brown woman with a metal head band and necklace
a black and white street art portrait of a man with bald forehead but long hair at the back, hoop ear rings and necklaces

below: A mermaid, octopus, paper sailboat, and fish bones

mural in shades of grey, marine theme, a paper sailboat sails above a topless mermaid and an octopus

street art mural, large fish showing just the bones

below: Ursa’s laptop and old flip phone has begun to sprout.

mural of an old flip phone and open laptop that have begun to sprout new growth

below: Old School Futuristes

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below: Each one teach one

text that says each one teach one in a mural, surrounded by tag text calligraphy in a mural

below: Rays of sunshine above with sharp angles of concrete below.

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below: Back to the front of the ADAO Headquarters ….

view of front of A D A O building in Barreiro, covered with murals

below: …. where this beauty stands by the entrance.

view of part of mural by Mar, including a naked overweight figure

graffiti in Faro

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below: Some sort of art?

graffiti, black and white wheatpaste of a man in a mask, wearing glasses, head and shoulders view, with text, I am some sort of art

below: And another some art

black and white wheatpaste paste up graffiti of a man's facebelow: Recycle yourself

black stencil on stone, recycling symbol with word yourself below it

below: He sits behind the glass.

black ink drawing of a man's portrait, signed amarantejaoum, behind the window pane in an old window with white frame

below: Green hair, teal hair.

street art painting of a woman with greenish blue hair, blue eye shadow and red lips

below: Rube stork in black and white

sticker, line drawing of a large bird with its wings out stretched

below: Trump as purple clown. Maybe the colour suits him!

graffiti, Donald Trump in a clown costume including little hat, printed in purple and black

below: The world in red and white.

graffiti, red on white, a globe of the Earth being held by two hands

below: Two faces and an arrow

blue line drawing of a face, also a blue arrow pointing downwards

below: Ouvre les yeux. La vie est belle/ bleue.  Open your eyes, life is beautiful.

sticker graffiti, two faces, words that say Ouvre les yeux. La vie est belle but someone has crossed out belle and written bleu

below: Not my World Cup … protesting the 2022 World Cup (football) being held in Dubai.

FIFA world cup trophy wrapped in barbed wire, sticker graffiti

below: Priority mail

graffiti made with a USA Mail priority sticker

below: A cute little couple by Costah (aka Nuno Costah)

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below:  Grey Putas DSCF4794 (2)

below: Love is blue

below: Question authority?

below: “A veces el cambio se siente como en arcoiris est blanco y negro” roughly translates from Spanish to English as “Sometimes the changes feel like the rainbows are black and white.”

below: On an old wall

graffiti text and a couple of images of people, on an old wall

below: Monkeys with weapons

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below: … and a red mushroom

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below: Fox under red

grey fo pasteup on a wall, with red spray paint above it

below: Batman!

line drawing of Batmans head

below: Yes, it’s just a chicken. If you are wondering why I took a picture of a sticker with a chicken on it, you are not alone. I think that the couple walking behind me, who stopped to look at the pole too, were also confused!

sticker on a pole, a black and white chicken

below: One frog, two frog; green frog, red frog (doesn’t quite rhyme does it?)

blog_green_red_frog

below: Love and suicide and a question that is fraught with complications

graffiti, image of person with up-do hair style, with words is love suicide?

street scene in Faro, green tag saying ano, other buildings in the background

mural with roses and a jellyfish

below:Keep smiling … until next time!

Photos taken February 2023

Viennese slaps and stencils

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Stencils, stickers, and small paste ups around Vienna

below: You don’t have to look like this

two stencils on a concrete wall, one red and one black, both with a silhouette of a person's figure and both with words that say you don't have to look like this

below: K2m Cactus is feeling blue – I can Imagine is ici (or is it Incredible Crew of Invaders?) – and someone’s wearing a gas mask.

stickers on an outside wall, two small blue cactus in a plant pot, one is bigger than the other and looks like a sad bald man. Another sticker says ici which is acronym for I Can Imagine

below: Skateboarder, diva, and 2 lit lighters.  Let’s scream.

a few small stencils together on a wall, a skateboarder, a lit cigarette lighter, an outline drawing of a face with spikey hair

below: Fishman doesn’t seem to like his metamorphosis.  I have questions – how does he breathe?  How does his hair stay in place? 

a black and white drawing on a blue watery background, a scaley fish with a man's head

below: Screaming in anger and frustration “Nothing I do matters while Capitalism exists. “

black stencil of a man with head back and mouth open as he screams the words nothing I do matters while capitalism exists.

below: Comment on the Patriarchy

stencil of a face

below: With a touch of green

stencil of a person sitting, in black except for green of lenses in glasses that they are wearing

below: Mouse with an umbrella or at least I think that it’s a mouse.  Such a ballsy behind.

black stencil of a mouse holding an umbrella as it stands on its hind legs

below: Eyes – blue eyes on red and one eye almost hidden behind a mask and torn paper.

blog_megaphone_blue_eyes

below: Stickers on blue

a blue circular street sign that has been covered with stickers

below: More stickers and paint on sign

directional sign by the waterfront that has been covered with stickers and some painted graffiti tags

below: Oh my! A sorry yellow ghost – he doesn’t look very sorry does he?

sticker, a ghost with the word sorry, ad advert for sorry tattoo

below: Frauhans

below: Little green happy faces plus translation surprises: Weihnacht hatte angst aber Ostern hat eier!! = Christmas has fear but Easter has eggs.  Why do people choose the words they write?

part of a wall with 4 pieces of graffiti, sticker with green happy faces, a drawing f a man's head in profile, one that is ripped, and one with the words Weihnacht hatte angst aber ostern hat eier,

small black stencil of upper part of person

below: While a blue Rick Astley claims that he’s never gonna give you up others are waiting for something to happen even though something is waiting behind you. 

words written in black marker on a wall along with a little character

below: Forked tongue, sluglike hugs on a pole.   We all need a little TLC.

graffiti sticker on a pole

below: Big theater, little applause.  The curtain drew back and revealed that the world is on the stage.  All the world’s a stage…..

sticker on a wall

smaller things in Lodz

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Lodz Poland is home to many large murals that have been funded and promoted by organizations such as Urban Forms Gallery (Fundacja Urban Forms). Although not as common as in some cities, there are smaller works to be found – paste ups, stickers, and stencils by a number of artists. These are ones that I saw the day that I was in Lodz back in May 2022.

below: Putin as the devil, a Nazi devil surrounded by skulls and death.

paper pasteup graffiti with image of Putin with Nazi swastika on his forehead, fangs for teeth, and phallic devil's horns on his head. He is surrounded by a ring of small skulls

below: blue hand grenade

paper paste up on a metal sidewalk box, a large hand grenade made of repeating blue and white geometric pattern

below: Gu-tang Clan dog headed hand grenades plus a 2020 view of Earth.

below: A pasteup on a sidewalk box in Centrum that shares many similarities with the 2020 Earth above.

people walking past on the sidewalk, beside a metal box with a 2020 paper pasteup of a man in black hat, suit and tie, holding a red beating heart in his hands, picture has an elaborate border. Under it are 2 identical posters. Also a Lodz Poland street sign, Ulica Stanislawa Moniuszki, in Centrum.

below: This balck and white dog head features on many gu-tang works…

below: …. such as this one.

black and white paper paste up slap of a dog's head with upright pointy ears, a symbol of gu-tang clan graffiti artist or artists

below: A 3fala portrait of Katarzyna Kobro (1898-1951), a Polish sculptor.

a 3fala paper pasteup portrait of Polish sculptor who died in 1951, Katarzyna Kobro,

below: Man with a beard.  More on 3fala (if your Polish is good): TrzyFala

a 3fala portrait of a man with beard and mustache, laughing

below: 3-D mask with a square nose and eyes closed

three dimensional graffiti, a mask attached to a concrete wall. top part is painted blue with word LAD in white, bottom part painted to look metallic, brassy, eyes closed, square nose

below: A masked swordsman painted on a fence

spray paint graffiti on a wood fence

below: An abstract painting that was pasted to a wall.

abstract painting on paper that was pasted to wall and is not peeling and fraying at the corners, in blues, yellows and reds

below: A pink balloon dog crosses the street at the crosswalk. The sticker on the left says “Moje ciato, moj wybor”, or: my body, my choice.

below: A grumpy, angry bald man growling at the world.

small graffiti pieces on the exterior wall of an abandoned building, on plywood covering a door is an eye with legs, three small heads on exposed brick, and a larger painted, line drawing face of a scowling man with no hair

below: A house for a body?  Or a house with legs?  Whatever it is, it seems to be wearing adidas shoes.  It too is angry and letting the world know it.  Random words, win, and sugar.

below: Flower

black marker on white, drawing of a flower, on a metal sidewalk box

below: square happy faces

below: Lodz, No Surrender

black stencil of two people in balaclavas, with text underneath that says Lodz no surrender

below: Small pink happy cat with twinkling yellow heart.

sticker on yellow box, cat shaped with rounded bottom, blue eyes, black whiskers, pink fur, yellow heart above its head

below: A bird? and its shadow

rue de Savies

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is a small street in the 20th arr., in the Belleville neighbourhood of Paris.

small stencil on a concrete wall, young girl in red dress with long hair tied back, holding a potted plant in a bucket, walking away with her back to viewer

below: Henry the bear on his scooter. One of the many bears released around the city by #bear_in_mind aka Gil Dassillien. You can see many more on his instagram page (check the link!).

black and white drawing on paper, pasted to wall, a bear on a scooter, wearing a shirt with the name Henry on it, street scene,

below: Amazing! large mural.

large mural with the word amazing written in cursive in yellow, orange and red, tribute mural to brens ody basketball player

below: A kiss in primary colours, a painting by SWeb aka Sebastien

below: Bare minimum white person rejoicing with the birds (or chasing pigeons…), jumping over rocks by the waterfall.

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below: Top right, a street art piece by LOUYZ. A fish out of water bursting through the wall, a Paris fish at that. Above the door – three lost little ones from Pac Man.

exterior wall with graffiti on it, large purple head of a bird with yellow beak and blue hat

graffiti of multicoloured woman sitting