under bridge | Eyes on the Streets

A long stretch of railway is elevated as it passes through the city of Girona, Spain. A bicycle and pedestrian path runs underneath. Some of the pillars supporting the railroad have been decorated by street artists.

below: Birds in flight

street art of black and white birds in flight on a concrete pillar

below: Cyop & Kaf have painted a few of the pillars with their black silhouette-like people such as this stolen kiss.

silhouette black people in street art, on a concrete pillar, top is man hanging upside down holding the feet of another man who is also upside down and kissing woman standing on the street, motorcycle parked in front

or this very tall man – He’s all tied up with his feet in the mud? in concrete?

street art on a concrete pillar - black silhouette man with his feet buried in the ground

street art on a pillar by Cyop and kaf

street art of a man, black silhouette, wedged between two blocks of concrete, and trying to pry space wider with a stick

people walking under an elevated railway, on a bike path, with street art on the concrete pillars supporting the railway

below: KRAM is responsible for two pillars including this blue character on a swing.

street art on a large concrete support, a blue character with human body but different head, sits on a swing, wearing purple running shoes with orange laces untied, orange shorts and brown t shirt, tongue stuck out, by kram

below: The other KRAM pillar is this one – quite different from the first.

street art painting by kram on a concrete post, cars parked behind, painting is sliced stacks of patterns

below: Two pandas

street art, 2 pandas, small one above is a paste up, lower one is painted and is more stylized

below: A brush to clean the toilet bowl. Not your average painting subject matter.

street art painting of a toilet bowl cleaning brush

realistic street art painting of a man in a white shirt

below: A few pillars are decorated with these red and blue guys – stylized yet anatomically correct – painted by Boris Hoppek

pineapple and face, street art

Photos taken in early March 2023

In Peterborough Ontario the Hunter Street bridge crosses the Otonabee River. The west end of the bridge is in downtown while the east ends at James Stevenson Park. It’s in the park that you’ll find the paintings.

Back in 2015 and 2016 two of the arches under the Hunter Street bridge were painted. Nogojiwanong is an Ojibwa word for “place at the end of the rapids” and it was their name for the area that is now Peterborough.

Hunter Street bridge fromJames Stevenson park, grass in front, picnic tables under the arches

Facing the Nogojiwanong mural, and not visible in the above photo, are three animals – deer, beaver, and lion. Now the town is referred to as Electric City. Why? Because on May 24, 1884 Peterborough was the first town in Canada to have electric street lighting on downtown streets. Power was provided by the London Street hydroelectric water plant, also built in 1884.

arch under a bridge, street art painting of jumping deer with magenta antlers, a beaver, a log, and some leaves,

The murals on this arch were painted by Kirsten McCrea, with the help of Vicky Jackson (at least that’s what it looks like in the bottom right of this photo).

a street art painting of a lion with a curly mane and long tail, painted by Kirsten McCrea in yellow and black

from a mural in Peterborough Ontario by Jill Stanton, a picture of bloodroot plant, leaves, flowers, and roots under the ground

Bloodroot is a plant native to the Peterborough area. It gets its name from the fact that it bleeds red when the stems are cut. According to the text in the mural (bottom right, below), bloodroot propagates through a process called myrmecochory which is seed dispersal by ants. The seeds have external “appendages” that are rich in food that ants like. Once this food is consumed, the seed is discarded and can germinate.

This mural was painted in 2016 by Jill Stanton with the help of Andrew Ihamaki.

Photos taken September 2022

Eyes on the Streets

and feets on the ground. Graffiti, street art and murals seen while wandering the streets and alleys of our colourful world.

Tag Archives: under bridge

standing upright in Girona

under the Hunter Street Bridge