The man turns and I am immediately struck by his eyes. He has a heavy, prominent brow covered with grey flecked eyebrows. His eyes appear to stare out at me from deep within his head and deep in that tunnel there is a fire burning there. He lashes out, not yelling, but his voice has a hard steel edge that cuts through all of the noise that the city uses to try and keep us down. He moves towards me, occupying my space, a thin line of spittle forming on his lips. This is not a man who lays down while others roll over him, and even thought the years have softened his impact this is a man who will not be ignored… a man of will.
I was wandering around Gastown in Vancouver and walked past an alley that had this graffiti painted on it. I loved the fact that the man who seemed to be angry was lying in shadow. That and the earth tone colours provided an interesting contrast with the celebratory, exploding colours on the the left.
-Russell Berg