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A city’s life blood
pan out only a little
Tesco, motorway
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by Scooj
This extraordinary mural by Serbian artist Artez is one of the most iconic pieces to emerge from the incredible Upfest 2024, which was staged over three weekends in May and June. Although there wasn’t a street ‘festival’ this year in one of the south Bristol Parks, the organisers triumphed with finding a host of new walls to feature some of the best artists in the world.
I was not familiar with Artez, as I don’t believe he has visited Bristol before, but after seeing this piece I will most definitely be keeping an eye on him. There is a wonderful connection in this piece with the space it is painted on and the subject, whose tummy aligns with the vertical wall and bent knees reflect the pitch of the roof. Clever stuff.
I could spend hours looking at this piece, which gives off an incredible sense of calm and peacefulness. The unusual position that the woman is in adds interest, and the large empty spaces around her draw attention to her face, her body and the folds of material in her clothes. A masterpiece from Artez.
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Resilient fig
unlikely urban foothold
nature will prevail
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by Scooj
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Hourglass waistline
clear veined stained-glass window wings
a perfect flier
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by Scooj
30 Days Wild is an initiative organised by the Wildlife Trusts. It is an annual challenge event, for those who choose to participate, to do one ‘wild’ thing a day throughout the month of June. I will try to write a nature haiku every day if I can as my contribution to this celebration of wildlife and biodiversity. I did this back in 2015 and thoroughly enjoyed the challenge.
This is another striking piece from Katie Fishlock which I had meant to post back in March, but it simply didn’t happen. Fortunately my regular trawls through my archives allow me to unearth special pieces like this one.
Fishlock’s punchy pieces tend to be quite modest in size, but usually make up for it in both attitude and message. These big red lips contain the words ‘self-sabotage is misguided self-love’, which I think I get. Katie Fishlock’s art punches above its weight because of its arresting combination of design and message, and I am a fan.
A gallery of fabulous graffiti writing from Bristol’s Phour.
All photographs by Scooj
Natural adventures 