When Nature and Art Merge

I photographed this wall art in one of Bangalore’s largest green lungs and public spaces, Cubbon Park, which dates to the time when Bangalore was a military outpost during British colonial time. This is one of the few examples of street art I have ever seen in the park and it was all the more striking the way the plant leaves were enveloping the painted tree, nature and art seamlessly merging together. As someone who enjoys photographing both trees and street art, I thought it perfectly meshed with my visual interests too.

The watchful lion of District Six

A lion emerges from the wall, not roaring, but listening and staring.
Where the wind once carried songs in Khoi and Afrikaans, where footsteps meant belonging.
He remembers.

Three eyes watch the street. Two, to see what’s in front of him. The third—ancient, intuitive—sees what was taken, what still aches.

In his paw, a key dangles. Not just to a door, but to memory. To the right to return. To unlock what was buried, taken, under concrete and silence.

He is nature’s witness — painted in a wall, yet alive.

The Butterfly’s Burden

“The Butterfly’s Burden” is a visual poem inspired by the metaphor that gives name to Mahmoud Darwish’s book, Palestinian poet and writer (1942-2008). The painting seeks to create a bridge between the observer and, “a ray of light” that is revealed when we stop.
Programa Arte Urbana 2020 – ÁGORA, Câmara Municipal do Porto.
Rua de Vilar, Porto. 2025 – text found in the author’s Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/rafi_dieerste