Many Small People

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“Ohne Titel” (Without Title) by Muriel Raoux, Kani Alavi
East Side Gallery
Mühlenstraße, Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg
Berlin, September 2011

“Vielen kleine Leute die in vielen kleinen Orten viele kleine Dinge tun, können das Gesicht der Welt verändern” (Afrikanische Weisheit)

“Many small people who in many small places do many small things that can alter the face of the world” (African saying)

“The 1,316-meter-long section of the Berlin Wall, located along the Spree River near Berlin's Ostbahnhof, or East Train Station, is the longest stretch left in the city. Most of the rest of the 43-kilometer-long concrete barrier (the much longer part around the outside of West Berlin was made of barbed wire fencing) was dismantled soon after the border became redundant. When the artists began work in 1990, however, Germany had yet to unify. ‘In June 1990, when I first painted the wall it was still real -- there was a border crossing nearby on the Oberbaum Bridge and I couldn't go over to West Berlin with my Soviet passport,’ said Moscow artist Alexey Taranin. While much of the west side of the Wall was covered in graffiti during the Cold War, East Germans were kept well away from the barrier, and it remained unsullied -- providing a perfect canvas for the East Side Gallery.” (Recreating the Past: The Berlin Wall Gets a Makeover, Spiegel Online)

See also: Berlin Wall - Test the Rest - Bruderkuß - Stay Free - Without Title - Sonic Malade - Vergesst mir die Liebe nicht - Niemandsland - Curriculum Vitae