Street Art in Boston
Back to school with murals in Boston
Boston is mostly known for its historic meaning as the place where the American Revolution started and for its educational institutions, such as Harvard and MIT. Street Art isn’t the first thing that comes to mind and yet, there is something to explore for urban art aficionados.
Street art in Roxbury
The area of Boston where Charlie explored urban art is Roxbury. There is one tour provider who also offers maps for self-guided tours. Charlie only had time for the latter and explored the art scene on her own. She got off the subway at Roxbury Crossing and walked a bit further South before heading North.
She passed by a few murals before she reached a playground next to a school. The school building itself showed several artworks, be it on the walls or in the ground. Some of them, made the name of the school to the motive: Tobin.
Northeastern University
The next set of street art is at the campus Northeastern University. The first mural that Charlie spotted was inside one of the buildings and clearly from the hand of Shepard Fairey. Because it was inside the building, Charlie could only see it through the glass doors, and she isn’t sure whether it is an original work or a replica.
Further along the campus are several murals of varying sizes. One of them covers a whole building and stands for cultural inclusion of different ethnicities.
All over the campus are several smaller pieces of street art that all depict a male person and remind of the style of Banksy. These works however are by the French artist Jef Aérosol. Most of them show a boy who sits rolled up into a tiny ball in the corner of a space. Those pieces certainly make you stop and think. Who is this boy? What happened to him?
Some others of his works show vibrant butterflies and yet everything is kept in black and white. Only the Aerosol-typical arrow is red.
One of his pieces at the campus of Northeastern University shows the author Edgar Allen Poe and the jazz musician John Lee Hooker during a little tea party – a historic reference to the city?
Street Art in Lynn
About 20 minutes outside of Boston is Lynn and Charlie spotted from the train to Salem that there must be a good street art scene. However, she was told that the area isn’t safe and she decided to not get off the train to walk around with the camera. She only got a few snapshots through the train window.
