GRAFFITI OF MY CITY | Street art in my hometown, Kristiansand (Norway)

My hometown is among the larger cities in Norway. It's located in southern Norway by the sea. This location has made Kristiansand important as a port city for centuries. It still is important. Apart from merchant vessels, cruise ships also come to the city during the summer season. Furthermore, our city is the gateway to Europe. We have a ferry connection to Denmark several times a day. The port therefore becomes the main traffic artery for tourists. This means our city is full of life during the summer season.

We have a few well-know and very productive local artists. Vlekart (Terje Andersen) is one of them. He is an active artist who has spread his art all over the city. I have chosen to highlight work done by him, because he is one of those artist who care about people. He takes an interest in children and young people. In several of his projects he has involved young people.

The man is painted on a sliding door. When I passed it the door was open. But I have seen (from a distance) that if the door is closed, there is one more painting of a man on the wall behind the door. But he is standing up right. (I havn't manage to get a photo when the door is closed, because I will enter private property) This mural with the two men has a deeper meaning. It's about trust. To understand the meaning, you have to know more about the place. The door belongs to a barn. This barn is part of several buildings that makes up a farm called Jegersberg Gård. Since 2007 this farm has been a rehabilitation center for drug addicts. The method they use when it comes to treatment, is no medication. The residents work on the farm that has horses, ducks, chickens etc. In addition they run a cafe, open on sundays. I often pass the farm when I go for walks.

Vlekart has also painted this building belonging to Jegersberg Gård. By painting the dandelion,Vlekart reminds us of metal health issues. There are many abused and violated children who develop mental problems. Some of these children and young people does manage later in life. In Norway we have an expression for these survivers: "dandelion children". This mural therefore also fits this farm well. There might be a «dandelion child» or two, among the residents.

Another quite cool painting, but the artist is not Vlekart. This is not a wall, but on the pavement. I don't even know where in town I found it. I took the photo in 2018!

It was not until 2015 that we started to see the first street art in Kristiansand. Before that we only had illegal grafiti. Many of the bigger cities in Norway were way ahead of us when it comes to inviting artist to paint the city. Somehow Kristiansand has had a slow development. It was not until 2017 Kristiansand had its first street art festival called «Gatekunst». This festival did get lots of positive response. From then it seems that more and more people enjoy and appreciate the street art. We see new works each year. The city also invites artists from abroad, in addition to artists from other places in Norway.