CCC's Street Art Contest # 188. Street art at the Five Corners

One of the old neighbourhoods of the city is called "The Five Corners". The origin of this name is transparent, the main attraction here is a complex intersection and a house with a tower on one of the five corners. Both this house and the neighbouring buildings were built in the 19th century. The courtyards of these buildings connect to each other and form a complex labyrinth. A walk through these courtyards can be a good alternative to walking the streets. I decided to walk through these courtyards in search of street art.

Ten to fifteen years ago I might have hoped for a large number of interesting finds in this neighbourhood, but things are different now. The communal services closely monitor the appearance of the walls, and most of the drawings disappear very quickly. So I was looking not only for graffiti, but also for all objects that can be attributed to street art.

My first find was a strange composition of stumps and branches. The door in the wall looked like a janitor's room - maybe it was a utility room, maybe an artist's studio. In the next courtyard I saw a ventilation shaft with stars painted on it. The next drawing caught my attention, it looked very nice from a distance. But when I got closer, it turned out that the painted girl was part of the design of the entrance to the children's play centre. Not bad either, but I wanted to find something more spontaneous.

I went to the next courtyard through an open gate in the fence, passed under a colourful archway, and approached one of the very old graffiti. I think it was painted over a decade ago... it's hard to remember exactly, but it's a drawing that's been adorning the walls for a very long time. Overall, the drawing has survived quite well, but it seems to have covered a larger area in the past. The lower part of the wall near the wooden door was also part of this pattern, if memory serves me correctly.

A further walk through the courtyards gave me a chance to admire arches of various shapes, but I didn't come across any more interesting graffiti. Light coloured rectangles stood out on the walls, they show the places where there were once drawings or inscriptions. At the end of the walk I decided to go to the museum of the poet Anna Akhmatova. In front of the museum entrance there is a small garden, the final shots are taken in this garden.

This is my entry for the CCC’s Street Art Contest #188 organized by @digi-me.