This will a brief piece on accessible art, on visually accessible paintings, like the graffiti above. For several decades this particular one had been almost totally inaccessible, almost totally unseen, sitting under a bridge running over a railroad. I and others have passed in train many times without observing it. Now it can easily be enjoyed. What made happened?
A piece of railroad between Oslo, Göteborg and Copenhagen, just north of Varberg, was moved sideways a couple of kilometers. The old railbed was elegantly transformed into a bicycle path. Where trains had passed under a bridge at 130 km/h, now bikes and pedestrians and wheelies like me slowly moved along. And we could now see a nice piece of graffiti hidden uder the bridge vault. More on graffiti:
Historically, the term originally referred to the inscriptions, figure drawings, etc., found on the walls of ancient sepulchers or ruins, as in the Catacombs of Rome or at Pompeii The Romans carved graffiti into their own walls and monuments, and examples of their work also exist in Egypt. The eruption of Vesuvius preserved graffiti carved on the walls of Pompeii, and they offer us a direct insight into street life: everyday Latin, insults, magic, love declarations, political consigns. In contrast to typical modern graffiti, alphabets and quotations from famous literature (especially the first line of Virgil's Aeneid) have been found scribbled on the walls of Pompeii, either for the pleasure of the writer or to impress, albeit anonymously, the passer-by with one's familiarity with letters and literature. In an ancient variant on the "for a good time..." theme, an inscription gives the address of one Novellia Primigenia of Nuceria, apparently a great beauty and subject of constant enquiry. (Vikipedia quote)
A more recent note, and one that connects ophthalmology directly to graffiti is quite fascinating: "Bashar, go back to ophthalmology," demanded a much-cited piece of graffiti recently at Martyr's Square in Beirut. The Syrian president, who has been in power for just over six years, is by profession an Institute of Ophthalmology (London) trained ophthalmologist. oh
Art disclosed
Less modern....possibly rude