Unlocking the Light.

 

Cezar, responsible for my wonderful
Christmas dinner!

Jan van Eyckplein nearby, early
on Christmas morning.

Still rather tired on Christmas Day from too many tasks [all small scale] to be done on Christmas Eve, Surprisingly perhaps, I enjoyed my first solo Christmas very much, buoyed up no doubt by the HOURS I spent chatting on Facetime. Without that electronic wizardry, the day would have been different. My Christmas dinner from Cezar was even better than expected! Lobster soup with rouille and croutons first followed by hare with truffles and tasty mash and completed with a wonderful Mascarpone Pavlova with cherry liqueur. Accompanied by a miniature champagne, a gift from Lieven, my personal trainer. Nothing much like the huge family traditional Christmas blow-out with turkey or goose, compulsory Brussel sprouts plus roast potatoes and other veg followed by Christmas pudding, The trad. British festive fare is much loved with a huge pull on the collective British imagination and will undoubtedly have been greatly enjoyed by all my family yesterday. SO my own Christmas was far from my normal for me but it was cordon bleu and immensely satisfying. Although I did have an occasional pang for an M&S Luxury mince pie, warmed, and my son’s family’s mention of pigs in blankets caused momentary longing!

Oliver Cromwell, 
Protector of Britain 

In spite of all, Covid did not cause the cancellation of Christmas which has survived intact since the Protectorate in the mid seventeenth century when Oliver Cromwell tried to banish the ceremony which leaned too much towards paganism. The Puritanical approach to life thankfully lasted only twenty long years! Since when strong men, aka Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson, have studiously avoided the possibility of being labelled as “the first man since Cromwell to cancel Christmas….” Hence, or at least, one reason for Boris’s dithering about Tier restrictions leading up to The Main Event.

This morning, as I plugged in the Christmas tree, put on carols by Harry Christophers and The Sixteen and added water to my lovely red and green bouquets, I mused on enjoying life physically alone. How difficult many seem to find it and how pleasant it has chiefly been for me. This happy state seems govern

Boris

ed by having occasional contacts on phone or Ipad; beautiful space in which to live; projects to enjoy; food and drink to imbibe though the latter is currently altered as I manage a three day pre-colonoscopy diet, which is not difficult. Also, I suspect, resilience and stoicism, perhaps easier to attain when old.

Could be my fav. Christmas card!

Plus, of course, emails with titles like that from HuffPost UK, The Brightside: “This email contains only uplifting news.” And again, extras like my new book by Andy McSweeney, photographer par excellence, entitled, Brugge Landscapes: Unlocked for Light. Andy, a Canadian married to a Brugge girl, has transformed the Brugge Covid disaster into a book of photographs which are all little works of art full of light, space and the beauties of the landscape, both brick and water. Then I was delighted to find, on Christmas morning a Quentin Blake card from my sister. She and I have long been Quentin fans!!

I have given myself the luxury this morning of an opt-out from the usual early walk; excuses include stormy, rainy weather; self-treat for Christmas; lots of typing to do [and that is currently slow and clumsy.] Nails, professionally gelled, are loooong and my girl may not open till February!

Obama

Post-morning chores, personal and spatial, I gave myself the luxury of an early and prolonged viewing online of Michael Cohen being interviewed about Trump’s Mafia boss, pardons [interesting] and then an interview of Obama by Trevor Noah on The Daily Show. Obama is doing numerous talk show interviews to publicise his current 700 page autobiography, A Promised Land. I am reminded of Barack O’s eloquence, honesty, fluency, humour, intellectual range, political savvy, essential goodness and fitness for the office of Presidency. Also ponder on the fact that, during his initial campaign to win the Democratic nomination for the Presidential race in 2007/8 he had to have the highest level of police protection [President level] because the number of threats to his life were the largest ever recorded. The interview also left me with considerable admiration for the skill of Trevor Noah, the online journalist-presenter.

Trevor Noah

Andy McSweeney

Wandering Again

 

The Jules Fonteyne plaque.

 Obviously, walking each morning has meant that I, a most unobservant person, have noticed a number of things, features, plaques or just plain sights, around Brugge unnoticed previously. The back courtyard on a little hotel, insistently light-filled in these less than light-filled days! This morning along the Coupure, a little plaque on a house to Jules Fonteyne, 1876-1964, attesting to the fact that he had lived there. I must try to discover something more about Jules if he is worthy of a special plaque!

Modern, back extension to the
Grand Hotel Casselbergh.

Last week, three friends and I, the same three from previous weeks, all masked and distanced of course, went on a mini-architectural walk, led by the expertise of Leen! We looked at the very modern rear elevation of the Grand Hotel, Casselbergh on Hoogstraat, as seen from across the canal, from Steenhouwersdijk. The back extension is strangely pleasing, in modern style though set within a mediaeval landscape. The architects conceived of it as a bronze treasure chest, in the architectural shape of a box with a chamfered roof echoing the design of the Belfort which also used to hold the treasury of Brugge. The idea of the treasure chest is underlined by the bronze projecting window frames which represent the gems. Frankly, I had admired this splendid back view of the hotel many times knowing nothing of the architect’s intellectual design process which really helps me to understand the design concept which, in turn, helps to account for the harmony of the modern within the mediaeval panorama.

Roger Raveel swans in removal, 1971.

En route to the Rijksarchief, we passed the spot on the Groenerei associated with Roger Raveel, an artist with an interesting history! Born in 1921, he was eventually knighted by the King. His versatility was legendary; he practised as a painter and sculptor, potter and designer of flags and for the Triennale in 1971, he made four wooden swans and placed them in the Groenerei as a protest against the dirty state of the canals. The council removed them and returned them to the artist who promptly replaced them on the water. After this cycle was repeated several times, the canals, then in a particularly filthy state, were quietly cleaned. In his paintings, he often incorporated actual objects like mirrors and reputedly, once, a cage containing a living pigeon. One of the gifted eccentrics of Bruges, he died in 2013.

We progressed to the Rijksarchief on the Predikherenrei, again, a modern building [2012] of most harmonious design, often admired by me-as-casual-passerby! The principal structure is made from long, thin bricks called Wienerbergers [from Vienna] which give a strong layered effect meant to suggest crumpled paper, and the stones incorporated are a reference to the piles of documents within the building. There are no windows above but the ground floor is walled in glass both to let in light but chiefly to invite connection with the outside world. To the left of the facade can be seen a succession of slanting roofs meant to give an architectural connection to the neighbourhood.

And finally, to see the wooden man who had long perplexed me. Situated adjacent to the pedestrian bridge on the Kazernevest, in a glass and blue stone tank, lies the wooden figure of a recumbent man, face-down. At an unseen signal [from a ‘key’, a movement detector, in a tree nearby] the prone figure slowly rises to the top of the tank, remains briefly before descending to its former resting place, every fifteen minutes. The timing of this choreography corresponds exactly to the time taken to raise up from, and return the bridge to, its original position. The bridge itself is made of blue stone and oak, similar to the materials used to fashion the man and his tank. The blue stone is from a quarry in Henegouwen, a Walloon province. To further form a unity between oak articulated model and bridge, the figure has twenty flexible segments designed to echo the movement of the nearby water. Significantly, it was a choreographer, Ugo Dehaes, who designed this unusual and fascinating tribute, named Coupure, in 2002 when Brugge was European Capital of Culture.

Coupure descending .....

Odds 'n' Sods

 

The Burg triangle of light,
majestically soaring to the dark sky.

Think I will write about Odds ‘n’ Sods today, or to put it more elegantly, Various Unrelated Items which crossed my path or my eyes in these last few weeks of shorter and shorter days. Not too long before the shortest day arrives, December 21^st, and then it will be the first rumble of the train starting to travel to 2021, and less and less Covid as vaccines are implanted though authoritative opinion, like Bill Gates, thinks that the first several months of 2021 will be the worst.

Wintergloed arrived just over a week ago and was such an immediate success that ‘t Zand was SO overfull with enthusiastic sightseers, that the Burgomeester immediately cancelled the next night’s

Winter glow in Brugge

show and reduced viewing hours of this winter light feast, discovered in a ten stop illuminated walk through the centre. I accept that older people are more resilient and can therefore accept new guidelines to limit normal behaviour but I just CANNOT understand why families and others are so desperate for light relief in a reduced world, that they ignore sensible, temporary safety precautions. No one wants to stop eating and drinking out; meeting friends and the wider family; wandering in slow-moving crowds to discover beautiful sights; enjoying exhibitions, visiting concerts and clubs. It has not been an easy year for anyone and many, including me, have spent about 95% of the past ten months, alone. But most, probably almost anyone, can adapt, especially if the threat of a potentially killer virus hovers.

The Markt in all its festive finery.

In spite of no Christmas Market, the commune has made a great effort with selected, central sites like the Markt which is delightfully stuffed with Christmas trees, some big, some less, but all a-glitter with garlands of tiny electric lights. SO pretty. The streets are less-decorated this year but the Markt is dressed to kill befitting its central place and importance in the city. Echoing this light-in-the-darkness statement, the facade of Frederiek Van Pamel, half-adorned for weeks, is now shameless in its festively ripe flaunting of red seductive baubles and bunting. A treat for the eyes of the passer-by. And as I write almost, Jan van Eyckplein has had several Christmas trees of varying size, installed with tiny lights; it looks magical in the dark as I glance out of my study window. The town IS less decorative overall than usual but in several points, great effort has been made to lighten up the Covid gloom with festive décor.

This photo hardly does justice to the splendour of 
the Van Pamel shop exterior. It glows
with exuberance and baubles!
A truly festive sight; the best in Brugge!

I am trying, in my apartment, to titivate, to remind myself of Christmas; in advance to give myself encouragement for an unusually solitary Christmas Day. I do look forward to see if I come up to my expectations and enjoy the Day as I think I will. The Day will begin with a Christmas Walk when I may well remember Christmases Past, especially when my children [now well into their fifties] were young. An early canal-side wander as the morning light emerges will be a magical start to December before I return home to my warm flat and Christmas lights and carols. After 10.00 a,m I need to pop down to Cezar to collect my special meal-for-the-day before lighting candles and luxuriating in the ambience. I am hoping to be lucky enough to have Zoom and/or Facetime calls from family at intervals linking me with California, London, near Oxford and rural Suffolk. Plus, sudden thought, Papplewick in Notts. Sounds good at least!!

My metal tree lined with Led lights
and looking better than this photo!

The nearby restaurant, Cezar, a beacon of light
for me during Lockdown, with its
splendid array of take-aways.
Solely responsible for lifting the standard
of my culinary intake!

Debenhams R.I.P.

A mournful end to a long and distinguished
commercial career.

More than a pang this week to hear that dear old Debenhams is to close. It appears that Covid has finished off the last uncertain year of trading for this familiar and much-loved store, on the ubiquitous high street for all of my long life. It traces its history back to 1778 when William Clark established a drapery store at 44 Wigmore Street, even then a prestigious address. He sold expensive fabrics, bonnets, gloves and parasols which makes me almost certain that Jane Austen will have shopped there during her frequent stays with her brother, Henry, a banker, and his wife, Eliza, They lived over the bank in which he was a partner, at 10, Henrietta Street, and later in Chelsea at 23, Hans Place.

William Debenham in 1813

In 1813 William Debenham invested in the firm which then became Clark & Debenham and went from strength to strength. The first store outside London was opened in Cheltenham [a fashionable town] in 1818, an exact replica of the Wigmore Street store. In the ensuing years the firm prospered and became an important centre for the lucrative Victorian fashion of family mourning by which widows and other female relatives adhered to a strict code of clothing, usually new, and etiquette.

In 1851 Clement Freebody became a major investor in the firm which was re-named Debenhams & Freebody and business expanded into wholesale, selling cloth and other items to dressmakers and large retailers. The firm grew, acquiring retail, wholesale and manufacturing businesses during the remainder of the 19^th century when offices also opened in South Africa, Australia, Canada and China.

Debenham & Freebody, London, 1905.

Acquisitions continued into the 20^th century and the store became Debenhams Ltd in 1905. In 1919 it merged with the famously fashionable Marshall & Snelgrove and in 1920 it purchased Harvey Nichols, a gloriously resonant trading name. An astonishingly sustained period of growth and financial success followed. The involvement of the Debenham family finally ended in 1927 and the business became a public company in 1928. By 1950 Debenhams was the largest department store group in the U.K. owning 84 companies and 110 stores, the lynchpin of the British retail landscape. It continued to grow with central buying finally introduced in 1966. 1976 saw the acquisition of Browns of Chester, the so-called Harrods of the North, and the following year all the stores were re-branded as Debenhams with the sole exception of the prestigious Browns which retains its own name to this day. Browns was both a high-status store and also one set in a jewel of a building.

Part of the gorgeous interior of
Browns of Chester.

From 1985 to 1998, Debenhams became part of the Burton Group which saw the repositioning of the business with the introduction of exclusive merchandise, most notably, Designers at Debenhams, launched in 1993. This period also witnessed a significant increase in the number of stores and in 1997 came the first international franchise store opened in Bahrain. Following the de-merger from the Burton Group, Debenhams was listed on the London Stock Exchange until 2003 when it was acquired by Baroness Retail Ltd, returning to the London Stock Exchange in 2006. In September 2007 the Company acquired nine stores from Roches in the Republic of Ireland followed, in November 2009, by the acquisition of Magasin du Nord, the leading Danish department store.

In February 2019 Debenhams announced a strategic sourcing partnership with global supply chain solutions provider, Li & Fung. In April 2019 Debenhams plc entered administration and delisted. The operating businesses under Debenhams Group Holdings Ltd were acquired by a consortium of lenders, Celine UK NewCo 1 Ltd at this time, and the business gained access to £200 million of new funding and embarked on a restructuring plan.

Debenhams advertising postcard,
1906.

And now the bombshell that Debenhams has ceased trading and is holding fire sales this first week in December. J.D. Sports had been negotiating a buy-out but after Philip Green’s Arcadia also collapsed this week, JD Sports terminated the negotiations with Debenhams. Given the vast property portfolio, 124 stores, and the huge number of jobs, 12,000, which will be lost, the collapse of Debenhams will have a huge impact on Britain’s ailing High Streets. The consensus of opinion at this monumental failure is that Debenhams lost out to more nimble competitors as it failed to embrace change, particularly online, I certainly mourn the ignominious end of 242 years of incredible continuity and exemplary commercial success. For me, there is nostalgia of course, for one of the background staples of my childhood and growing up, but there is also a considerable sadness at this ignominious final act.

Customers rush into the first day of sale,
1977.

Illustration of Clark & Debenhams 
before 1851.

Streetart Festival, Brugge: Nature

Portrait in Reds.
Kitsune Jolene

Although I did prefer the Legendz images in the Brugge Streetart Festival, one from the Nature section which truly impresses is Portrait in Reds by Kitsune Jolene in Hooiestraat. For my taste, perhaps a little too dazzling in colour but it is an incredibly accomplished portrait on a grand scale, and the artist attributes her huge masterpiece to having been inspired by an extract from a Longfellow poem, The Belfry of Bruges, written in 1845.

The Belfort rising majestically in 
Brugge Markt.

The Belfry of Bruges

At my feet, the city slumbered. From its chimneys here and there

Wreaths of snow white smoke ascending,

vanished, ghost-like into air.

Not a sound came from the city at that early morning hour

But I heard a heart of iron beating in the ancient tower.

From their nests beneath the rafters, sang the swallows, wild and high;

And the world beneath me sleeping

Seemed more distant than the sky.

Kitsune Jolene [Jolien de Waele] is inspired by emotions, nature and myths. She is from Ghent and always paints in a realistic, representational way using intense and hard colours for her portraits, flora and fauna. She recorded her appreciation of the Streetart Festival: ”Thank you for everything, Wietse, an artist and good friend from Bruges who organised the festival completely by himself. And thanks Mayli Sterkendries, a photographer, for letting me paint you”

Part of Wietse's mural of a
cartoonish duck.

Wietse, the Bruggean founder of this festival, contributes a splendid wall painting on a high gable at the junction of Rodestraat and Predikherenrei. He also paints in a realistic way but his work is more to the cartoon end of murals and he always uses black and white, mostly adding touches of one extra colour. He finds his inspiration in his travels, and in nature and history, always repeating himself. As organiser, it was Wietse who chose the two sections: Legendz and Nature. There are three more wall paintings in the Nature section outside the Egg: two in Assebroek and one in Sint Pieters.

In an extraordinary coincidence as I was writing the above, a friend drew my attention to The Crystal Ship, a street art festival soon to take place [19/12/20 to 3/1/21] in Oostende when a series of murals will delineate a new night-time walking route. I had no idea that the famous film actor, Matthias Schoenaerts, has been an accomplished street artist known as Zenith since he was 14, working mainly in his home town of Antwerp. He has just spent two days spraying his contribution to The Crystal Ship, on a high wall in Cardijnplein where he has depicted a headless version of King Leopold 11 on his horse. Schoenaerts feels his mural serves as an alternative to recent beheadings of Leopold statues in Belgium, in concert with the destruction or removal of Confederate statues in the Southern States of America, and similar anti-slavery moves in the U.K. In Belgium there has been the beginning of a confrontation of the horrors carried out during Leopold’s reign in the Congo Free State, and Zenith’s mural seeks to focus that conversation within the Oostende community about that traumatic time in Belgium’s colonial past.

Zenith's headless Leopold in Cardijnplein.

This mural is of special significance for the town of Oostende which benefitted greatly from the largesse of Leopold who made finance available for the foundation of Maria Hendrikapark; the building of St Peter and St Paul Church; the Wellington Racecourse and the Royal Galleries, all four of which remain big local attractions. The capital for these prestigious projects will undoubtedly have come from the Congo. The Mayor, Bart Tommelein, suggests that this mural demonstrates the stains on the character of Leopold and sharpens the debate on his legacy.

Matthias Schoenaerts,
Zenith.

One of the many splendid works of art gracing large buildings
in Oostende. By Strook, he of Bruges' fame who
constructs his portraits from reclaimed old wood.

Brugge Streetart Festival 2020

Thi

Detail from the Mary of Burgundy mural
showing O.L.V where her memorial lies.

This festival would have been planned in the confident expectation of thousands of tourists visiting Brugge in the summer, as usual. I imagine the idea of huge images on gable ends would have also been expected to appeal to the young in particular but, it was also suggested, they would help older people remember. There were two distinct subject areas for the artists to consider: Legendz and Nature. Having now seen examples of both I prefer the murals depicting Legendz perhaps because of my interest in history though the objective is to re-shape and re-connect  the old and the new within the city. The most dazzling mural for me is of Mary of Burgundy; a huge presence on Houwersstraat.

Mary of Burgundy, Houwersstraat.

There are many symbols in her portrait to be found; the euro and dollar signs signal her wealth; the French lily in her dress represents the French king and the rich Flemish citizens, merchants and nobility supporting him. The falcon refers to her death outside Brugge when she was hunting; the Gothic window stands for the church of Onze Lieve Vrouw where her tomb is situated; her enormous hands are the hands of Jesus treating men and women equally, symbols for giving, creating, forgiving and sharing. The Brugse Zot and the swan refer to Maximilian of Austria, Mary’s husband, while the coins are a symbol of Brugge's economic status which produced, effectively, the world’s first Stock Exchange.

Jeremiah Persyn, Jamz.

The artist of this mural is Jeremiah Persyn, nicknamed Jamz, a native of Brugge who worked for years as an art director,
draughtsman, graphic artist and painter, creating textiles, décor, storyboarding. He recently started a multi-media creative company, Sarazon, with his wife, Sarah Van Dale. He has worked with the aerosol which he sees, and uses, as a brush, since 1988.

Dans der Zotten.

Dans der Zotten, the Dance of the Fools, dominates the space at the side of the Concertgebouw. It commemorates the occasion in 1488 when Maximilian of Austria banished the annual market. The inhabitants of the city set up a grand fair and reputedly asked him for a madhouse to which he replied, “ Close all the gates of Brugge and that’s your madhouse.” Zot, at that time, meant a willful person with a strange sense of humour. The four different zotten also represent individual seasons and the artist chose lighter colours to merge into the shades surrounding the graffiti wall. The artist, Stan Slabbinck, began his career as a graffiti artist in the late 1980s and has created for festivals and amusement parks, drawing his inspiration from a wide range of contemporary subjects, often critical of society, always evolving, discussing the themes of nature versus people.

Stan Slabbinck

Stefaan de Croock, Strook.

Strook's Mysterious Woman
looking into town.
Perhaps this is my favourite.

The third artist is Stefaan de Croock, nicknamed Strook, born in Sint Lucas in Ghent and thus an incomer to Brugge. He always uses second-hand wood obtained from various sources like old houses, collecting wood from old beams, doors, window frames, floors, some of which may be three hundred years old but using the wood exactly as he finds it, only cutting and sawing where necessary. This philosophy implicitly criticises Society where much of what we use, is designed not to last. He has been involved for six years on the Strook Art Project and in 2014 The Huffington Post placed his work, Wood and Paint, in the top 20 most influential murals. He recently made a large work for The Crystal Ship in Ostende, using wood reclaimed from the Mercator. He has exhibited in the U.S., Denmark, Canada and Sweden and had been due to hold an exhibition in Ghent in October 2020. His exhibit in this festival, on a large, bare wall near ‘t Zand, of a mysterious woman looking into town, is accomplished in his trademark strips of wood, which he suggests, are able to bring order from chaos and, through the old wood, tell a new story.

The most extraordinary feature of all the murals to this aged writer, is that they are created by aerosol cans obviously wielded by very creative hands. And secondly, painted large on outdoor walls. Talent and ingenuity combined.

Mary of Burgundy emerging.

The information for this week’s blog is entirely provided by Leen Ryckaert, professeur extraordinaire!

Graffiti.

 

Graffiti in Bethlehem

The Bruges Street Art Festival was apparently launched in August but such is my unconscious power of resistance to publicity that I have only now discovered this city-wide exhibition of works of art sprayed chiefly on large gable ends, accomplished only by spray can and marker pen. I have now visited some of the various sites with friends to guide, and can see that these paintings come under the umbrella heading of Graffiti.

So I have delved into graffiti and found it unexpectedly interesting!

Graffiti in Melbourne.

Wikipedia defines graffiti [= Scratch. Singular: graffito, rarely used] as writing or drawings made on a wall or other surface, usually without permission, and within public view. It has, in fact, existed since ancient times in Greece, Egypt and the Roman Empire and is now treasured as both art form and information channel which has conveyed small details of then current lives, to posterity. Au contraire, modern graffiti is usually considered by property owners and civic authorities as defacement and vandalism. It became a growing urban problem for New York City subway, on cars and walls, where it started in the ‘70s before spreading to other parts of the U.S. and eventually to Europe and beyond. It was closely associated with gangs who used graffiti for a variety of purposes: for identifying or claiming territory; as informal obituaries to dead gang members; to challenge rival gangs and to chronicle various ‘achievements’.

Crusader graffiti in Church of the Holy
Sepulchre in Jerusalem.

I have noticed in Britain, that it often appears adjacent to railway tracks approaching cities [relatively easy access for the young and agile] and in run-down urban areas. When I worked in secondary education, it was a golden rule when some graffiti appeared on the outside of school buildings to have it removed as soon as possible. We never wasted time on trying to find the culprit who might, and might not, have been a pupil. Quick removal meant less chance of additional artistic efforts alongside the original; a plethora of wall-sprayed signs would somehow suggest a place with a lack of order and community, an absence of caring and a want of intellectual activity!

In spite of this, [or perhaps, because of this] it is now a rapidly-growing art form which inspires both

Subway car, New York City.

fervent admirers and detractors world-wide. To some, it is an authentic form of public art, continuing in the U.S. the tradition of the Government-commissioned murals done during the Great Depression. And also in the Diego Rivera mode; this famous Mexican artist returned to live in Mexico in 1921 and became involved in the government-sponsored Mexican Mural Programme which effectively launched his career [when he was already a famous artist] as a muralist. Of course, the amateur graffiti artists of today are not always so talented though they are profuse. But one does notice, particularly with historic examples, that graffiti is often political and sends a message more pithy than words.

And I haven't even mentioned Banksy in Britain, an anonymous street artist and political agitator whose satirical street art and subversive epigrams have inspired millions of admirers and whose work fetches huge sums of money.

Girl with Red Balloon
Probably a universal favourite by Banksy.

Tel Aviv, Israel.

Budapest.

Inside the ruins of the German
Reichstag Building.

One World.
Modern example.

And now for a Post Script added after

first publication!

Werregarenstraat, Ghent.
Graffiti Street.

A friend rang me as I was writing the above and then sent me several links about graffiti in Portugal and in Ghent. I was amazed at the Ghent Graffiti Situation. In the Mail Online of June 26th 2018 there is a major article entitled The World is Your Mural. It gives pictures and information on the zones in Ghent, founded in 650 A,D, where graffiti is legal and any artist with a spray paint can, may venture. The centre for graffiti in Ghent is Werregarenstraat, a tiny, curving street now nicknamed Graffiti Street and an established graffiti centre for more than twenty years. There are maps freely available, to help visitors find works of art on the sides of buildings in the four zones in the city where graffiti is legal.

New Vhils mural in Berlin.

Perhaps the most famous Portuguese graffiti artist is Alexandre Farto known as Vhils. He has developed his own unique visual language based on the removal of the surface of the building he is working on, using power and manual tools. His introduction to graffiti was in the early 2000s since when his extraordinary works have appeared in Paris, Lisbon, Rio de Janeiro, Shanghai, Cape Verde, Cincinatti and no doubt many more cities. His portraits on walls are astonishing.

 

Vhils in action.