Good concrete painted concrete

Gomel aspires to become Eurasian capital of graffiti

Once a year, best graffiti writers from Europe and Eurasian part of Russia convene here. Three summer days leave a rich and multi-colour trace in the life of the region centre.

By the way, three years ago the idea of organising a festival of such a dubious phenomenon was forwarded by the municipal authorities. They applied the tested principle: if a process cannot be stopped, it should be spearheaded.

The grey concrete quay of the River Sozh was chosen as an object of painting. The wall of the quay is rather long and will serve as an object of artistic expression for several more festivals.

Previously gloomy quay is now one of the brightest and most picturesque city places of interest and a funny background for taking pictures. Thanks to the Gomel festival, residents of the city and guests of the region centre realised that graffiti is not only those scary and weird looks one might get to see on the walls of blocks of flats. Many “paintings” are real objects of art.

Andrey Novikov