Thursday doors – 21 August 2025 – Marrakesh doors

Doors 321 – Doors of Marrakesh, Morocco, January 2025 (Part II)

This selection of doors is presented in chronological order, following our first walk in the streets of Marrakesh, walking north from our hotel (featured last week) towards the centre of the Medina.

Our first impressions were very much shaped by the bustle of the city. Bright light, dusty streets, so many people walking the streets dodging the motorbikes and scooters that are the dominant form of transport through the narrow and windy streets. You will spot that the walls of Marrakesh, known as the Red City, are pinky-red in colour due to the local stone and clay, rich in iron oxide employed in the construction of the ancient city, and still used today. You will get used to this ubiquitous colour through the passage of these posts.

Marrakesh is a Thursday Doors dream, although it is not just doors, but arches and more generally the architecture that are so attractive. I hope you enjoy these first steps into the city as much as we did:

Minaret and supported walls (earthquake damaged) of the Moulay El Yazid Mosque, Place My Yazid, Marrakesh, Morocco, January 2025
Minaret and supported walls (earthquake damaged) of the Moulay El Yazid Mosque, Place My Yazid, Marrakesh, Morocco, January 2025
A cell tower disguised as a palm tree, complete with a stork nest (real) on the top, Rue Arset El Maach, Marrakesh, Morocco, January 2025
A cell tower disguised as a palm tree, complete with a stork nest (real) on the top, Rue Arset El Maach, Marrakesh, Morocco, January 2025
Cafe Tamrakcht with side door and open front, Rue de la Kasbah, Marrakesh, Morocco, January 2025
Cafe Tamrakcht with side door and open front, Rue de la Kasbah, Marrakesh, Morocco, January 2025
Studded wooden door and decorative surround, Bab Agnou, Marrakesh, Morocco, January 2025
Studded wooden door and decorative surround, Bab Agnou, Marrakesh, Morocco, January 2025
Stunning carved entrance and keyhole doorways, Bab Agnou, Marrakesh, Morocco, January 2025
Stunning carved entrance and keyhole doorways, Bab Agnou, Marrakesh, Morocco, January 2025
Double archway, Bab Agnou, Marrakesh, Morocco, January 2025
Double archway, Bab Agnou, Marrakesh, Morocco, January 2025
Bab Agnou city gate, Rue Oqba Ben Nafaa, Marrakesh, Morocco, January 2025
Bab Agnou city gate, Rue Oqba Ben Nafaa, Marrakesh, Morocco, January 2025
Iron/door with decorations, Passage Bab Agnaou, Marrakesh, Morocco, January 2025
Iron/door with decorations, Passage Bab Agnaou, Marrakesh, Morocco, January 2025
Keyhole gateway in a city wall, Rue Oqba Ben Nafaa, Marrakesh, Morocco, January 2025
Keyhole gateway in a city wall, Rue Oqba Ben Nafaa, Marrakesh, Morocco, January 2025
Modern studded door, Passage Bab Agnaou, Marrakesh, Morocco, January 2025
Tatty door at No 37, Derb Oualdidine, Marrakesh, Morocco, January 2025
Tatty door at No 37, Derb Oualdidine, Marrakesh, Morocco, January 2025

It feels wonderful to revisit these doors and our trip to Marrakesh back in January, it was a great way to recharge our batteries and put us in a good place to tackle 2025. There will be plenty more doors next time and for some considerable time, I fear it might get a little samey or boring, but hope not. Have a great weekend all.

If you have made it this far, you probably like doors, and you really ought to take a look at the No Facilities blog by Dan Anton who has taken over the hosting of Thursday Doors from Norm 2.0 blog. Links to more doorscursions can be found in the comments section of Dan Anton’s weekly Thursday Doors post.

Thursday Doors

7109. Brunel Way (331)

Mr Draws, Brunel Way, Bristol, June 2025
Mr Draws, Brunel Way, Bristol, June 2025

The two most prominent conflicts (although there are countless others) of our time that have mobilised public attitudes in the UK are the Israeli occupation of Gaza and The West Bank, and the Russian invasion of Ukraine, both of which are barely out of the news at the moment. The Nobel Peace Prize nominee-in-waiting, Donald Trump has appeased the aggressors and most powerful forces in both conflicts and achieved absolutely no progress towards peace since he took office. Shame on him. Siding with bullies and looking for a favourable deal (for him and his cronies) is all he appears to care about.

Mr Draws, Brunel Way, Bristol, June 2025
Mr Draws, Brunel Way, Bristol, June 2025

Meanwhile, protests continue and are powerfully expressed through graffiti art, which has a capability to commentate on the injustices of the world in a way that has a lasting impact. Mr Draws has done himself proud with this huge ‘Free Palestine’ piece in chrome, sitting on the red white and green colours of the Palestinian flag. I guess the black drop shadow makes up the black from the flag. (Note to self – prepare some protest galleries).

7108. M32 Cycle path (293)

Tera, M32 Cycle path, Bristol, June 2025
Tera, M32 Cycle path, Bristol, June 2025

I have continued to dig out Tera pieces that I failed to post at the time they were painted, so this one from June is a little out of sequence, but demonstrates really well his development, which has been so rapid.

Tera, M32 Cycle path, Bristol, June 2025
Tera, M32 Cycle path, Bristol, June 2025

I’m not quite sure what the overall message here is, but when I see skeletons and gold coins, I think about avarice and comeuppance. A message that I am always mindful of, and one that reinforces my dislike of selfish billionaires, is that ‘you can’t take it with you’. This piece says that to me. It is a well-painted piece that, in part, reflects his accelerated progress, and highlights some of the areas he can sharpen up on, which, in fairness, he has been doing since painting this a couple of months back.

7107. M32 roundabout J3 (699)

Tera, M32 roundabout, Bristol, May 2025
Tera, M32 roundabout, Bristol, May 2025

It has been quite difficult trying to keep up with Tera’s incredible output this summer, and I have had to do a little trawl through my summer archive to find some of his pieces that I haven’t yet posted, including this one painted alongside Kid Crayon, back in May this year.

Tera, M32 roundabout, Bristol, May 2025
Tera, M32 roundabout, Bristol, May 2025

This is one of Tera’s earliest pieces (he touched the ground running), and demonstrates a certain amount of experimentation. It is an interesting piece of writing spelling out his name, but definitely feels like something that hasn’t yet formed an identity. The technique is good throughout, with some nicely graded fills and some good interlocking letters. Given some of his more recent large character pieces, this one looks like a stepping stone towards improvement.

7106. Cumberland Basin

Fade, Jody, Dibz, Cheo and Acid Face with a Brace, Cumberland Basin, Bristol, May 2025
Fade, Jody, Dibz, Cheo and Acid Face with a Brace, Cumberland Basin, Bristol, May 2025

In Bristol, we are really lucky and get to see a lot of collaborations and paint jams about the place, bringing together local artists who are often joined by visitors, invited or passing through. We get to see all sorts of different styles and levels, and then occasionally a top drawer special production like this one from Fade, Jody, Dibz, Cheo and Acid Face with a Brace.

Fade, Cumberland Basin, Bristol, May 2025
Fade, Cumberland Basin, Bristol, May 2025

Photographing this production in its entirety was something of a challenge due to its sheer length and some difficult light conditions, with so much open sky above the wall. To start us off on this wall we have a semi-submerged piece by Fade, with the water level cleverly portrayed using different shades of colour above and below the water line, a theme continued by each artist through the production. Some dramatic skies round off Fade’s section nicely.

Jody, Cumberland Basin, Bristol, May 2025
Jody, Cumberland Basin, Bristol, May 2025

Next up is a portrait piece by Jody featuring a warrior with a deep fur collar and long sword, so I am imagining a Viking theme going on, although I can’t help feeling that the hairdo doesn’t quite match the machismo of the character.

Dibz, Cumberland Basin, Bristol, May 2025
Dibz, Cumberland Basin, Bristol, May 2025

In the centre and holding the whole production together is a piece of typically brilliant writing from Dibz, again, with the water line running through it and incorporating a wonky long sword. The dramatic skies also continue through this story.

Cheo, Cumberland Basin, Bristol, May 2025
Cheo, Cumberland Basin, Bristol, May 2025

Cheo brings a whole different style to the piece, while faithfully following the Viking idea. His cartoon warrior, wading through the water, is festooned with long blonde hair tied up with red bands. His snarling face is made rather comical with the tilt of his helmet. Of course, a trademark bee, also with a helmet, is in attendance.

Acid Face with a Brace, Cumberland Basin, Bristol, May 2025
Acid Face with a Brace, Cumberland Basin, Bristol, May 2025

Rounding off the production is some more writing from Acid Face with a Brace, whose collaboration with Dibz and Fade in Dean Lane from earlier in the summer is still very much intact. The theme is beautifully embraced by Acid Face with a Brace, and he has included a wave breaking over his letters, mirroring the Fade piece at the other end. Awesomeness all round.

7105. Brunel Way (330)

Creamylines, Brunel Way, Bristol, July 2025
Creamylines, Brunel Way, Bristol, July 2025

I was very happy to see that Creamylines dropped two pieces under Brunel Way recently, probably in the same session, one of which I posted a week or so ago, and this is the other, which was painted low to the ground on the end of a wooden skate ramp.

Creamylines, Brunel Way, Bristol, July 2025
Creamylines, Brunel Way, Bristol, July 2025

Once again, Creamylines has presented a colourful landscape view, with fields and hills leading up to a sky dotted with clouds and a large yellow sun. There are plenty of figures or sentinels throughout the piece, which is given a serene and natural look, courtesy of the birds in flight. A calming piece in a crazy world.

7104. M32 roundabout J3 (698)

Kid Crayon and Tera, M32 roundabout, Bristol, July 2025
Kid Crayon and Tera, M32 roundabout, Bristol, July 2025

This is a wonderful character collaboration from Kid Crayon and Tera, otherwise known as the Doordie crew (do or die). What is extra special about this is that it has lasted a couple of weeks, which is quite rare for a Kid Crayon piece these days, and should be celebrated.

Kid Crayon, M32 roundabout, Bristol, July 2025
Kid Crayon, M32 roundabout, Bristol, July 2025

The character on the left is by Kid Crayon and on the right by Tera, between the battling zombies we see a collection of bones spelling UZI (Undead Zombie Infection). The green zombie looks very much like the characters from Plants vs Zombies, a game that my kids very much enjoyed a few years ago. There is so much detail and expression in this zombie, brilliantly crafted by Kid Crayon.

Tera, M32 roundabout, Bristol, July 2025
Tera, M32 roundabout, Bristol, July 2025

Tera, continues to amaze with his rapid progress this summer with this fantasy style zombie, a little more menacing and scary than his counterpart. There is, once again, plenty of detail in the piece, with the bony fingers taking a prominent role. Altogether a fine and fun collaboration. It is so good to see Kid Crayon out so often this summer, with a regular painting partner.

7103. Sparke Evans Park (139)

Dirtygypo and Posh, Sparke Evans Park, Bristol, July 2025
Dirtygypo and Posh, Sparke Evans Park, Bristol, July 2025

Although this superb piece of graffiti writing from Dirtygypo isn’t really a collaboration, it does have a cheeky collaborative element from the inclusion of one of Posh’s distinctive characters, of which there appears to have been an outbreak of across Bristol in the last couple of months.

Dirtygypo and Posh, Sparke Evans Park, Bristol, July 2025
Dirtygypo and Posh, Sparke Evans Park, Bristol, July 2025

As with many of Dirtygypo’s pieces, each of the letters are assigned a different colour and the word it interspersed with bolts of lightening. I won’t drift into trying to interpret the word this time, I’ll simply have to wait until I meet him to find an answer. All good stuff, and another fine piece from Dirtygypo.

7102. Knowle West (7)

Joe Greenaway, Knowle West, Bristol, July 2025
Joe Greenaway, Knowle West, Bristol, July 2025

Joe Greenaway s not an artist I know much about at all, so I went to his Instagram account to see if I could find out more. I didn’t find much, but I did discover that this paint jam arranged by Mind 49 was organised to raise funds for @thegrandappeal Children’s Hospital Charity. Further searches on the Interweb revealed that Joe Greenaway is an up-and-coming artist from St Ives in Cornwall (a place with a rich artistic heritage).

Joe Greenaway, Knowle West, Bristol, July 2025
Joe Greenaway, Knowle West, Bristol, July 2025

The stunning greyscale portrait piece features a woman with a date ‘1958’, and I wonder if it might be a relative of the artist. Alongside the stunning portrait is a superb reference to Bristol in the form of balloons drifting over the Clifton Suspension Bridge. This is a beautiful piece that deserves to be shouted about. Oh, and damn the car!

Nipstone Rock

Nipstone Rock, Stiperstones Landscape National Nature Reserve, Shropshire, August 2025
Nipstone Rock, Stiperstones Landscape National Nature Reserve, Shropshire, August 2025

.

Where purple heather

and moody drizzle clouds meet

a landmark erupts

.

by Scooj