Buenos Aires eyes

 

This is a series of close-ups on the eyes of painted characters in sanctioned murals and unsanctioned graffiti in Buenos Aires.  Recent regulations and policies governing street art have created a mural paradise in the city. Street artists only need the permission or commission of the owner of the property, and neighbourhoods and businesses have been quick to see the advantages of the lively atmosphere these works of street art add to their environment. There are many unsanctioned works of graffiti as well, and it is, in fact, not always easy to tell the difference between the two categories.

 

As these images on the walls have become rather everyday pieces of the environment in many districts, inhabitants of the city are now often followed by the eyes of all types of painted characters, of all sorts of human figures, the cat woman, alien creatures or even minimalist abstractions. When focusing on the eyes of real people up close, the world around, and even most of the face becomes distorted, blurred, and irrelevant. Concentrating on the eyes of painted mural characters has a similar effect in some respects; it is, however, also a radically different experience. These are eyes that are “looking” at us as we are passing by, but in our hurry we rarely slow down or stop to examine them closely. I wanted to experiment with slowing down, stopping and examining them the way we almost never do. The result is a collection of Buenos Aires eyes, following us as we walk the streets of the city.

​