Junction Boxes, Paint and Some Imagination
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| Carvoeiro Not an unspoiled fishing village - there are none left in the Algarve - but a small town whose geography has helped it retain some of its character and charm |
Junction boxes are everywhere but Portuguese towns seem to have an inordinate number of them. Drab and grey, they are magnets for graffiti and fly posting....
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| Boxes in Lagoa - drab as you like |
... but not in Carvoeiro.
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| Fish, what would you expect? Boxes of Carvoeiro |
The painting was the idea of Phil Francis a British resident of Carvoeiro for almost three decades. With the support of the local authority, he extracted permission from Energias de Portugal who own the boxes, teamed up with Helder José, a German/Portuguese professional graffiti artist and set to work at the end of last year.
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| A touch of the Jackson Pollocks: Boxes of Carvoiero |
And they have been busy. I photographed 55 boxes in a hour's walk up and down the main streets and I doubt I got them all. Because of the way the paintings are juxtaposed it took me a while to spot the themes, but they are there. There is local architecture...
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| Local architecture: Boxes of Carvoeiro |
...sometimes with a cat.
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| Local architecture with cats: Boxes of Carvoeiro |
Traditional Algarve chimneys are well represented...
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| Traditional Algarve Chimney: Boxes of Carvoeiro |
...as are azulejo tiles.
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| Painted tiles: Boxes of Carvoeiro |
...and there is a series of local views, like this one of the beach.
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| Carvoeiro Beach: Boxes of Carvoeiro |
Local characters also feature, like Tia Olympia (Aunty Olympia)...
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| Tia Olympia: Boxes of Carvoeiro |
...and João Peludo (Hairy John).
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| João Peludo: Boxes of Carvoeiro |
There is a series on local fauna....
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| Frog: Carvoeiro Boxes |
....while other paintings relate to where they are, like this alembic outside a booze shop.
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| Alembic outside a booze shop: Boxes of Carvoeiro |
I particularly like this one as the theme continues up the wall above and links across to the advertisement at the side...
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| Carvoeiro Boxes |
....and finally (for a touch of controversy)I wonder if the placing of a Virgin Mother and a stork on adjacent boxes was entirely accidental.
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| No comment; Boxes of Carvoeiro |
There are more, but that is a representative selection. I am indebted to Alyson and Dave Sheldrake's Algarve Blog for some of the information in this post.
Statues Without Plinths (2023)
Socialist Realism: In Praise of Bad Art (2022)
The Boxes of Carvoeiro (2016)
The Algarve: Delights and Depredations(2010)
Mexilhoeira Grande and a Long Lost Cousin (2013)
The West Coast (2013)
Lagos (2014)
Castro Marim and Vila Real do Santo António (2015)
The Boxes of Carvoeiro (2016)
Mertola and Alcoutim: Strongholds by the Guadiana River (2017) - Also under Alentejo
Silves, Former Capital of the Algarve (2018)
Drinking the Algarve (2022)
Eating the Algarve (2024)