Collecting photos of street art is like trying collecting the infinite. You will never find the same piece again, because they are always unique and always changing. For those of you that don’t mind the fact that you will never be able to complete your collection, this will keep you busy for all your life, wherever you are. In Ghent, where I live, there are a couple of places to check out if you want to add some street art photos to your collection, but if you want to go  straight to the core, to a place that showcases all the new stuff, then you go to Werregaren Straat.

Werregaren Straat

Werregaren Straat is an alley that connects Hoogpoort with Onderstraat (there’s a map below) and it’s sort of a shortcut between these two, as well as a chosen place to release bodily fluids (especially at night). No matter at which end you start, from one to the other, you will find a street full of graffiti –  a street full of legal graffiti, I might add. Sometimes you will even find some of the local artists working on it, repainting the wall with whatever is coming out of their minds, and hands. I found most of them during the day (better light I guess) but you might find some nocturnal ones too. This is a way for the city to allow some artistic expression without damaging other sites in the city, because let’s face it, there are some that are nothing but just doodles; don’t try to label it as abstract, you just don’t know how to paint inside the lines. So I’m all for legal graffiti walls, with real graffiti, not just tags. I don’t know if there are others in Ghent though apart from some scattered work.

Werregaren Straat

The street changes its aspect almost daily, but I suggest checking for the differences after a week. I bet it will be difficult to find traces of art from the week before, although in some places you can actually notice the different layers of paint.

Werregaren Straat - Thick layers of old paint show the rapidly-changing face of the street

With time, you will probably even start to recognize some artistic styles, and who did what. And if you would like to express yourself too, you can just walk down Hoogpoort to the  Toykyo shop, where you will find all the material you need for you to wow us with your own masterpiece. Just don’t forget to take a photo after you’re done – that’s the only way your work will remain immortal, because the next day, someone might have painted over it.

Werregaren Straat

Map of Location – Google Maps

Werregaren Straat – Flickr