My white Adidas sneakers sank a few inches as I stepped onto the soft white sand. Above me sat a blue sky with the sun shining unobstructed onto my skin. A painted yellow packing crate read “Jerk Chicken” and pointed to an empty half-pipe with a red spray-painted arrow. Further ahead stood an archway with the words “YAAM” painted in yellow outlined by red (Figure 1).
Figure 1. Entrance to Beach Bar
Entering the archway and twenty paces to my right stood a wooden beach bar while twenty paces in the opposite direction led to a standing volleyball net, swaying slightly with the occasional breeze. Around here, the surface of the sand appeared clear of objects save the occasional wooden bench or brown coconut—freed from its rough hairs.
Did I tell you that I’m in Berlin? Gaps within the remaining sections of the Berlin Wall made way for these “beach bars” leading straight to the river: an oasis of pacific calm within the heart of a big city. On the outer surface of the Berlin Wall stands the “Eastside Gallery,” a collection of commissioned wall graffiti from many artists from around the world. The works showcased here span a wide array of topics and styles; from the simple and elegant (Figure 2) to the busy and initially nonsensical (Figure 3). The sheer number of different paintings requires future visits to take in and do justice to more of the art displayed.
Figure 2. Simple and Elegant Wall Graffiti.
Figure 3. Busy and Convoluted Wall Graffiti.
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