The Art of Travels - Part III (Arts of the World)

Street Art, London

Looking back at my travel photos, I realized that I had compiled quite a collection of street art photos from the various countries that I had visited. Some might wonder why the obsession with street art? Well, I am not so sure myself. Ever since my husband and I moved to Europe and started travelling more, our travel goals seemed to have evolved into one that allows us to see the unique parts of our travel destinations and street art seems to fit that bill! We would still make it a point to visit the main tourist attraction sites whenever we travel to a new place but we would be constantly on the lookout for unique street art along the way.

Street Art, Paris

As mentioned in my earlier post, I do feel that art and travel goes hand in hand and I personally feel that it is even so for street art. Most of us travel to venture out of our comfort zone, to explore and discover new things that cannot be found in our homeland. However, now with globalization, we can easily see the outside world from the photos and videos posted on social media without even the need to step out of our house. To me, it would be quite meaningless to travel all the way to another country just to see things that appeared exactly the same as the photos seen on the various social media. Street art, on the other hand, adds color and vibrancy to a place. Furthermore, a new piece of street art can be easily painted over an existing one, which thus allows for the injection of a whole new outlook and new elements of surprises to the same region! It is this form of fluidity that motivates me and my husband to travel more!

Street Art, Singapore

We had noted the transition of the haphazard graffiti into beautiful art murals in the many places that we had visited. Today, street art is still a rather controversial issue with some countries becoming more open to it and letting these form of art create a more lively and colorful outlook to the region while others still frowns upon it and view them as a form of vandalism. Regardless of how the world see street art, my husband and I just purely treat them as art pieces and as a way to better understand what the locals are trying to express in a rather creative format. As an amateur painter, I also find inspirations from these various street art and I always find myself having the burning desire to pick up my painting brush after coming across some interesting art on the streets!

There are certainly many more gorgeous art pieces waiting to be discovered and it is my greatest wish to be able to find them while travelling to the different corners of the World! With that, I would like to end off this “Art of Travels” series with some of my most valued street art photos that I had taken so far. Hope that you have enjoyed this series thus far and feel free to share with us your thoughts on this topic! Cheers :)

Brussels

Dublin

Iceland

Istanbul

Lisbon

London

Morocco

Paris

Singapore

The Art of Travels - Part II (Chartres Light Festival)

It will be September soon and whenever this month approaches, I will be reminded of how much fun I had at the Chartres Light Festival 2017, a night where the creative use of lights decorated the city of Chartres and turned it into one giant art masterpiece! Chartres Light Festival is into its 15^th year this year, with the first light show being showcased in 2003. Since then, every year, the city will provide more than 200 consecutive evenings of light shows from April to October, with the main light festival event being held on a particular Saturday in September.

A lovely and scenic view in Chartres!

Of all the light festivals that I had attended, I was particularly impressed by the grand scale of the light festival in Chartres! With more than 20 monuments and major attractions in the city being illuminated with artistic lights and music, it literally felt like the whole city had come alive and partying alongside the tons of visitors from all over the world who had specially made a trip down for the event!

My husband and I had planned a weekend trip to catch the light festival at Chartres and we even managed to coax some friends to join us for the event. We arrived at Chartres train station in the late morning and proceeded to head out to do some exploration of the city after dumping our bags in the hotel. It felt like a normal small city in France, with little or no hints of the exciting events to come once night falls. Our first stop was to Chartres Cathedral, the famous landmark in Chartres. The cathedral, built in the Gothic and Romanesque styles, has been listed as a World Heritage Site by UNESCO and I could see the reason for it as we got closer to it. With its towering height, well preserved exterior, and impressive stained glass window, its majestic facade has undoubtedly drawn many visitors towards it!

Chartres Cathedral

The interior of Chartres Cathedral

Beautiful stained glass window

The other side of Chartres Cathedral

After exploring Chartres cathedral, we continued on our relaxing stroll through the city. Chartres is really a beautiful place to be in, with a good mix of the old and new building facades, the small alleys lined with cute cafes, the lively market place and the numerous well preserved monuments for visitors to explore! While walking, we chanced upon Saint Pierre church, whose massive and impressive outlook caught my attention immediately! The church was huge and we had a great time admiring the stained glass windows and the fine details carved out all over this beautiful architecture!

Cute cafe lining the small alley

Lively market place

Saint Pierre church

We decided to head back to the hotel for a short rest after lunch so as to conserve our energy for the light festival later at night! While walking back to the hotel, we noticed that the locals were starting to set up the props for the night event later on and it just make us all the more excited about it!!

After what seems like a particularly short rest (we could hardly rest as we were too hyped up for the event!), it was time for the city to come to live and the light festival started off with a bang! The first show of the night was held right smack in the city center where two men stood on a platform and showcased a duel dance routine involving electric currents, catching everyone’s attention with its catchy music and mesmerizing illumination produced by the currents! The dance was both horrifying and exciting at the same time due to the danger and excitement of incorporating electric currents into the show! Although there was a huge crowd gathered all around the platform, I was totally caught up in the captivating show, with no recollection of what was going on around me! It was a brilliant start to the night’s event!

The electric current dance routine...

Once the show ended, it was free for all to wander around the city and explore the many monuments that had been illuminated with laser lights. I have never been this excited as I keep switching from staring at the light displays in awe to frantically clicking away on my camera! To me, I could hardly fathom how it was possible to inject so much details onto the seemingly ordinary architectures with just the use of laser lights alone. The buildings all looked absolutely different from how it was during the day and I was certainly very impressed with this effect! It was also definitely a night to remember for a photo enthusiast like me! It is time to let the photos do the talking...

Hope that you have enjoyed the photos and be dazzled by the impressive light displays that I had captured of Chartres Light Festival 2017. If you are interested to head down to Chartres for the light festival, it will be on 15 September 2018. Have fun, take lots of photos and do share with us! Cheers!