Tarmo Lattu 20E

The Story behind the Picture

It was a normal day like any other. The sun was shining bright and the streets of Athens felt like a frying pan of smells and pain. The homeless were on the street either doing nothing, smoking, or playing music for what little people had to give. I walked my normal path from the metro station through the marketplace over to my garage. On the way, I snatched an apple from the basket of some wealthy-looking old lady at the marketplace. She wouldn't have needed it anyway, I told myself. When I reached the garage and opened the rusty metal door, the air of my garage swept my face as it always did. It smelt like home and paint. I always kept the window open, but not all of the smell managed to escape through that.

Today was the day I had been waiting for. The protest was about to begin once again. Although you couldn't yet feel it in the air everyone knew that tonight the fires would burn bright. I collected what I needed in a backpack and headed out to the sunny streets again. This time I took a turn to an alley and struggled my way over a tall fence. Behind the fence there was a ladder. An old rusty ladder leading to the roofs. So I climbed up and took the paints out of my backpack.

I painted on almost every rooftop jumping from one to the next one. This was possible because the houses of Athens had been tightly built with only small alleys splitting the houses. I continued my work for a good hour and then headed down to the streets as I knew the time was running out. I still had to make it to the City Hall in time for the protest.

And so I painted the Idea.