I have always been a firm believer in graffiti as a truth teller of a culture no matter where I find myself in the world. It gives the city, who normally doesn’t have a voice, the chance to say something. And beyond that it can communicate something to foreigners without having to use words. It gives the tourist something they can see and feel about they place they are visiting.
Montreal is one of those places that honor its graffiti by keeping it up. Taking a stroll in the city center the place is glittered with all different types of urban scrawl. I came across the image of a woman with purple hair screaming at the top of her lungs expertly (and no doubt painstakingly) painted on the side of a long narrow building. She was so visually arresting I wanted to cover my ears because I could hear her. Her mouth exploded open like a siren shrieking. On the other side of the building was her handsome blond boyfriend cautiously looking away. Did he finally have enough of her torment—or did she? Nearby I found a boy airbrushed Anime style throwing silver orbs from the palm of his hand. Could they be magic I thought, listening to the young children talking in their sing-song French.
After viewing so many images I began to piece them together like a storybook made up of pages from different books. The characters, the voices and the plot changed with every other page. But there was one thing that stayed constant. The energy of this city was--and is-- like a fuse burning on a wire. The passion of one image bled over to the next until I ended up with a firecracker of colors colliding in my mind and a beat in my heart every time a local flashed me a telling smile. “You’ve been learning our secrets,” they seemed to be saying.
Montreal is in her prime. You don't have to go to Parc Mont Royal to listen to hipsters diddling their guitars. And you don’t have to hang by McGill campus to hear intellectuals discussing the latest great theory at hip cafes to know this city is ripe like a watermelon in July. All you have to do is look around. Montreal is one big uncensored art gallery. Her secrets are there for you to see and know. She encourages it. Next time you’re there stop and look at the artistry that decorates the walls you just may realize she’s trying to tell you something.
|  | 
|
