Tag: city
Curious peculiarities
Seeing strange features is somewhat an act of mindfulness.
The lockdowns of our past brought us closer to the act, for both entertainment and survival.
Unusual features are part of our everyday lives. Noticed in familiar and in the new.
They are around us and surround us and given the moment, we can see more of.
The gallery portrays moments in time I too saw something that thought of as a huh moment.
What was your?
Portland Street Art, summer 2022
Lines on nature
Nature is alive, reproductive and moving.
Here are some shots of man-made attempts to copy nature’s qualities, beautiful, yet limited, by their nature.
Athens underground overground
Athens is known for its grittier side. In 2022, I’ve discovered a newer slightly cleaner version of the city I knew from the 90s.
For sure, graffiti has exploded around the city and can be found in almost every surface visible to the eye.
Beyond the traditional football slogans, the latest street art is artier and talks to a new generation’s appetite to make a political statement.
From small notes, to IPAs, quirky logos, to beetroot cakes and fish tavernas, Athens is no longer limited by its suffocating random architecture but energized by a transnational vibe melting all that comes, goes and remains, in a true South Mediterranean crossroad vibes of its geography.
High skyline view spots of around Acropolis and the city of Athens
Every tourist and local love the view of Acropolis. The streets around the hill can get busy so here are some spots you can enjoy a cocktail, coffee, a romantic dinner or walk away from the buzz and hussle of the busy streets below.
Acropolis and Athens cityscape from Filopappou Hill. A perfect spot for walking amongst the trees, a short uphill hike to exclusive views over the Parthenon, Lycabettus and the city.
Golden nuggets of London
Some say London is paved in gold. That is not quite true. There are ways one can experience it and they are, in truth, golden. They are the walks, in a safe city, at all times of the day or night, revealing architectural marvels, historical corners, oral histories retold, under the bridge communities, housing estates, street art and corporate communes wrapped around a few blocks from each other. They may not always live in harmony with each other, but they certainly demand each others existence to enrich their own. This is not gentrification, or poetics of urban spaces but a slow crawl of inverted commas on concepts undefined, yet golden for their moment in time.
New year’s Bethnal Green
New year new start. Can’t help but look back a little, and yet remain grateful for today.
Today I’ve gone back to Bethnal Green where I lived at for thirteen years.
Bethnal Green is a strange yet warming place. If you were to look it up online, it looks quite grim. 2 up 2 down level terraced rows of workhouse housing, surrounded by loads of high rise social housing estates built in 1800s to the 80s dotted on every corner, with a through road high street.
I must admit, I had some of the funniest and most learning times growing up here in my 20s and that’s purely down to a local and transient mix of people and pre war and post war architecture.
Imagine in one day hanging out in a 1900s pub, a high rise tower block built in the 1970s, trekking on cobbled streets and through grafitti glad Victorian alleys. It’s pointless going into any detail on this as this is my story.
But perhaps sharing these pics from today, will give the platform from which to imagine a constant of stories intertwined.
From the housing flats, to the terraced houses, the odd patches of greenery, the mix of bengali, cockney, underground arty, and now poshy touristy and transient peeps, this is the Bethnal Green in 2022. Many will pass through and many more still remain. Yet, new year’s memories to come may remain similar to past.
Contemplating spaces
As 2021 comes to a close, with winter on its tail, here are some shots from spaces of places that made me stop, and stare.
Happy holiday season my loves.
Cowboys and effigies 