Girls Street Art: Hidden object now adorns wall on Lämmerspieler Weg
17.10.2017 – The smudged wall with aggressive slogans has been transformed into a friendly work of art: The wall on Lämmerspieler Weg from the junction to Laskastrasse is now adorned with a 90-square-metre hidden object painting, in which many allusions to places in Offenbach have found their place.
"If you look closely, you can see footballs and the Kickers stadium, for example, but also motifs from the recycling center and the Doggyhouse," says artist Thekra Jaziri. She designed the monumental painting, which was filled with color with the help of 58 women and girls. Under the title "Girls Street Art", the Stadtwerke Offenbach Group's group-wide "Better Living in Offenbach" project not only paid for the paint, but also called on groups of women and girls in Offenbach to take part in the art project. For one week, five groups from all over the city have now helped to paint the wall, which is 30 meters long and three meters high, with spray cans.
Previously often banal graffiti on the wall
The impetus for the campaign came from Offenbach resident Anton Jakob Weinberger, who has been driving to the municipal depot via Lämmerspieler Weg for several years. "There have always been banal graffiti on this wall, but for the past year or so there have been increasingly aggressive slogans with incitements to violence and even killing," says Weinberger. He was annoyed about it for six months, then he drew Mayor Peter Schneider's attention to the problem and suggested an artistic solution with a local connection. "If public spaces are attractively designed, sprayers generally don't go there anymore," says Weinberger, who was very pleased to see the new painting on the last day of the painting campaign.
Sabine Süßmann, head of the "Better living in Offenbach" project, took over the organization of the project and commissioned artist Thekra Jaziri to design and supervise it. She studied at the Offenbach University of Art and Design, has lived in Offenbach for eight years and, together with her friend Hannah Lindner, guided and motivated the participants during the action week.
"It was a great experience"
"We had a great atmosphere among the participants and a lot of fun because everyone was allowed to paint without being judged," said Thekra Jaziri. "Many of the women in particular hadn't painted for years and had never worked with a spray paint can before," says Hannah Lindner.
"It was a wonderful experience," enthused Katja Werner, Managing Director of "Von Ich zu Ich gGmbH", who was there with the participants of the parents' café she runs, as well as women from Lernwerkstatt Offenbach, a career guidance project for young women led by Nelly Kinzonzi. Young women from "Kirche am Start" as well as mothers and daughters from the Diesterweg scholarship and women from German courses run by Starthaus GmbH also enthusiastically joined in the spraying.
Encouragement often came from passers-by who watched the groups of women and girls in their artistic endeavors. Some passed by every day with their dogs, commented on the progress of the work and were pleased that the streetscape was being beautified. Others, however, considered the voluntary work of the cheerful group, most of whom wore mouth and hair protection, to be an illegal subversive action and complained. The police also came by and asked Jaziri to show them the city permit.
The art campaign has not only transformed the unpleasant sight of the wall into an attractive eye-catcher, the joint effort for the painting has also led to some of the social projects networking, says Katja Werner. And in addition to the awareness of having created a huge work of art together, many of the women and girls also share a physical experience: "Many of us have massive sore muscles in our arms from the constant shaking of the paint cans and the spraying," says Nelly Kinzonzi.
18.10.2017
Social projects have networked while painting