Montreal Walls Project – Two – Wabi-Sabi Reds

To the naked eye, the bricks will appear dulled by pollution and grime, but visit them right after a refreshing rainfall; just before the sun is starting to dry them and you will find the perfect reds: warm, velvety, delicious reds! You will just have to touch them…

(Circa October 2019) – Back in the fall of 2019, when I was still attending classes in person and working in an office, as opposed to my Covid-free basement office, I started walking around the downtown core and noticing the subtle and beautiful effects of age on the walls of my city, Montreal. This coincided with my decision to read several books on Wabi-Sabi aesthetics and my continuously growing love for that aesthetic. The idea that beauty exists in imperfections is only the beginning of it. Time and the environment (pollution, weather, effects of humans, etc…) carve away at our attempts at perfections and paint their often simple touches to the urban landscape. These touches deliver more beauty than we normally notice, so I stopped to notice them and guess what I found? I looked at walls in the dry, bright sunshine, in the cloudy rain, and the conditions in between them. The best days to capture the effects seem to be shortly after the rain has fallen and the sun is peaking through the clouds.

Life got busier and busier and before I knew it, Covid made it less interesting to move around as much. Let’s be honest, there’s something very satisfying in taking pictures of walls when other people are around. I love the looks of curiosity and confusion I get when they see me standing around and taking pictures of what must seem like random walls. Well, it’s Spring, Covid-restrictions are loosening a little and I’ll be heading out for more shooting soon (I hope).

I would love all your feelings, impressions, and observations one these images, so please share them here or on my blog The New Renaissance Mindset

Prints & more available at Arts MPerron @ https://1-mario-perron.pixels.com