PPAC: A new public art photo challenge

• Manja Mexi Mexcessive

Cee and Marsha have decided to launch a new photo challenge that has to do with public art. Let’s return to my city and listen what it has to say.

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The host of the first week of this challenge is Marsha Ingrao at Always Write. Since I have just a photo for it, I shall take part at least in the first round, said I and ended up with 20 photos, as one does on the blog called Mexcessive.

This photo is the one that came to mind immediately. It was taken six years ago in the LP café of ZRC SAZU (Research Centre of the Slovenian Academy of Sciences and Arts) in Ljubljana, Slovenia, my city of birth. The first and the last photo in the gallery below are also from that day and location.

All the rest are from July 1st last year when I returned to Ljubljana for the first time after one year. The pandemic messed up my big 50th birthday celebration planned for May and I had to cancel it. I arrived quietly, greeted only by the heat, humidity, incredibly aggressive mosquitos – this is a marshy basin with prehistoric dwellers – and some quirky street art.

As I was walking the dog in a rarely – if ever – visited part of the city while my parents did some chores, at first I felt in a fully foreign place. I didn’t recognize the weather conditions, the mosquitos, the writings on the wall. I should be right at home here, since I lived in Ljubljana for 43 years before moving to Tuscany (this is one of those crazy sentences… I’d laugh at any psychic who would promise me when I was young that this was what my life had in store).

But I didn’t feel at home, not until I started to pay closer attention to what the walls were saying. In Ljubljana, the walls always know. Have a look.

And if you wish to show us what kind of public art wakes you up and talks to you, visit Marsha for more info and post some photos to welcome this new challenge.

  • This was not taken from the street! I break the challenge rules!! I need more photos.
  • This was last July upon arrival. “Yo”? “10 Cent”? Where am I? At least these flowers on the windows look really Slovenian.
  • That’s more like it: “Death to fascism”.
  • “Dober” means good if a male noun follows. “Dobra” if it’s female. “Dobro” if it’s neutral. Yes, it’s a musical instrument too, invented by some Slovak-American brothers. Their slogan was “Dobro means good in any language!”
  • “Dober dan” is a greeting, meaning “have a good day”. Thank you, wall. I needed this.
  • A variety of characters that I’m not familiar with.
  • I can’t read or decipher this pink blob but on the right it says “Together for climate justice”.
  • By then I was grinning already. In largest letters: “Eternally immune to morons.” In the centre in green: “There is no planet B.”
  • I know, that’s a joint below “eternally” but I thought it was a microphone. On the right: “Decarbonization of bust”.
  • Nicely framed in green too.
  • I’m not good at reading these writings.
  • KNOM?
  • Both together.
  • This animal has Tito, the Marshall of Yugoslavia, on its back and celebrates our old holiday: “Long live 29th November, the Republic Day.”
  • The animal is long.
  • It’s public but whether it’s art, it depends who you ask.
  • Suffice to say it made me feel more welcome.
  • Carnations on the windows for some, writings on the walls for others.
  • Another bit of wisdom from six years ago. I often think of the truth of this.

For Photographing Public Art Challenge (PPAC) hosted by Marsha at Always Write

This day in my blogging history

25 thoughts on “PPAC: A new public art photo challenge”

  3. Manja, I particularly laughed with the beginning art in the restaurant. I do like being immune to morons, too, and there is no planet B. This was just plain fun walking around with you on the city streets. This one had me laughing out loud. 🙂

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    1. Thank you, Cee! 🙂 This was indeed a perfect fit. Great idea for a challenge. The subject is really broad. It’s hard to say, for example, where public art stops and architecture begins… It will be interesting to see what attracts the eye of the cameras.

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  6. Great challenge! I’ll join but not this Friday as I will be travelling; probably July 2.
    I love the “No one is listening until you make a mistake” sign. Very true. Great street art photos, but I like the mossy stone stairs best. 🙂

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  7. Very interesting post. I like the long animal street art, although I think the Tito figure and other slogans look like they were there already and the animal painted on top.

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  9. I wish I was eternally immune to morons. You can make me laugh with the smallest things. “The animal is long.” Oh geez, that cracked me up. I enjoy how readily you engage with street art of the simpler type, and how often you find written messages vs. images. It must be more common where you are, or maybe I don’t see this kind of message as well as you do. I love them, and I appreciate the translation. And like you, I have a hard time “reading” the fancy graffiti.

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    1. Crystal, just for you (nooo! for everybody!), chances are you haven’t seen this post from last year: https://mexcessive.photo.blog/2020/04/01/l-a-closeness-has-nothing-to-do-with-distance/

      So good to know that this post cracked you up. I LOVE reading the streets, and in a country where I don’t know the language I’d suffer so much. The fancy graffiti are on another level, but it’s the little messages the street leaves for us to find that are my favourites. Thank you so much!

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    1. Ahh, lovely to hear this, Natalie. 🙂 Yes, dobro is the same both in Croatian and Slovenian. And I’ve learned (through blogging) that it’s also an instrument. Dober dan to you too! And always welcome back, to my country (even though I live in Tuscany now) and my blog.

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Happy to learn the first thing on your mind.

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