Good Fences - 9/25/14: "Mosaic Wall"

Good Fences Thursday asks us to post a photo of a fence or gate each week.

I just spent several weeks in Portland, Maine.  I took over 1500 photos of the city, the harbor, charming old houses (most built in the 1800's)  You can find some of those (more will be added in the future) and many of my other images on my Flickr page.  View my entire photostream or click on "albums" to the right of my profile image to view a specific set of images. 

There is an album titled "Maine."  The one called "Fences" contains images that may have been posted for this meme ---or may be posted in the future.

Click on any individual photo, then scroll down a little to find more info about that image.


I'm not quite sure if walls qualify as fences, but they often serve the same purpose, to keep things out, keep things in, to add privacy, or for decorative purposes.

When I lived in Brazil (1967-69) I had just graduated from college with an art degree. I loved that in many cities, and especially in Salvador (which I visited from time to time because our regional office was there) many buildings had art work on them. The side of a building might be covered with bas relief sculptures, or the entrance might have a mosaic design, or an apartment building might be painted in various colors to form a geometric design on its facade.

When I visited in 2011, I didn't see much of that anymore, probably because in the intervening years, the country has developed a middle class. There aren't as many very poor people who will work for practically nothing. Therefore, few can afford those extra artistic touches in building decoration.

In 2011, I walked past these mosaic walls surrounding a parking area for one of the tall buildings there, which may have  been an office building or apartments. I had walked along this street (Avenida Sete de Setembro) many times when I lived there and don't remember these designs, but I may have forgotten, or else, they were added sometime in the last 45 years.

Although there are not as many decorative designs and public art as there once were, there are still some to brighten the city and make it as colorful as its people and culture.

Contemporary mosaic design on a wall in a parking area.
Salvador, Bahia
Brazil
(August 2011)

Detail of the above design.