Marlon Brando in Valparaiso

The UNESCO World Heritage district of Valparaiso in Chile is literally covered in graffiti. But the talented, artistic kind (mostly). It’s everywhere.

Big and small.

Intricate and simple.

Realistic and stylised.

Outside and inside.

And it’s constantly changing. So that many of the pieces I featured in my 2015 post The Murals of Valparaiso, have since been modified or even painted over.

2015

2016

But if it wasn’t for Sebastian, our 2016 guide in Valparaiso, I wouldn’t have even noticed what instantly became my favourite piece of street art ever!

When Sebastian first brought our attention to the black and white painting below, I couldn’t make any sense of it at all. It appeared just to be some abstract white squiggles on a dark background. Writhing snakes perhaps. Or worms?

Then he told us to look at the image through a mobile phone. And it was like magic! The small version of artwork made it clear what the artist was portraying.

Yet even standing there, with both the full-sized graffiti and the miniature digital version, it still took me several seconds to get my eye in, so I could make out on the wall what I was seeing on the screen. Talk about clever!

Can you make out the face of Marlon Brando?

This post was inspired by the photo themes of Things that Look like Faces from Cee’s Fun Foto Challenge, Eyes from Ailsa of Where’s My Backpack?, and Details from Nancy Merrill Photography.

The first two Jaspa’s Journey adventures, The Great Migration and The Pride of London, are now available in both paperback and ebook formats! Click here for more information. The third instalment, Jaspa’s Waterloo, is scheduled to be released by Speaking Volumes early this year.

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