Written From…Lisbon, Portugal
Street art has always been controversial. Some people see an artist expressing themselves, some people see it as vandalism. If you scribble ‘Love’, ‘Hate’, a name or a misspelt word on a wall with a spray can, chances are I won’t pay attention to it. It isn’t stimulating, neither is it interesting and often it is damaging someone else’s property.
But there is another type of street art though, the type I absolutely love. It is smart, creative, entertaining, occupying a little corner of a city and actually enhancing it. Good street art makes the pictures of avid photographers like myself much more interesting too. And there is no better place than Lisbon, Portugal, to see perfect examples of good, well-thought and respected street art.
I thought most of my pictures of Lisbon would be of the main sights, tramways and everyday scenes, however I realised when loading them to my computer that a big percentage was of street art. Everywhere I looked an urban poet had left their mark on the landscape. In this city, street art is enhancing public spaces rather than degrading them.
And rather than keeping these photographs on a hard drive and looking at them every now and then – which I do way too often – I thought I would take you onto a tour of my favourite street art pieces of Lisbon.
