We’re celebrating the end of one year and the beginning of the next by thanking BSA Readers, Friends, and Family for your support in 2024. Picked by our followers, these photos are the heavily circulated and “liked” selections of the year – shot by our Editor of Photography, Jaime Rojo. We’re sharing a new one every day to celebrate all our good times together, our hope for the future, and our love for the street. Happy Holidays Everyone!

When BSA was in Dublin this year we found this mural by street artist Asbestos is still in good condition, and still turning heads.

Created as part of a series addressing the housing crisis in Ireland, the work reflects a broader issue affecting much of the Western world, where the financialization of housing continues to outmaneuver societal efforts to resolve it.

His people’s faces are often hidden or obscured, only their eyes shown – perhaps a metaphor for personal space and the psychological sanctuary it offers. Without knowing directly the intention of the work, we found folks on the street in Dublin this May to be caught by surprise at the view, with some taking a moment on the sidewalk to surmise what Asbestos is trying to say.

The figure, clad in a shirt with bold stripes, juxtaposes the simplicity of everyday attire with the surrealism of the house encasing the head, creating a mixed sense of both the mundane and the extraordinary. Before long, you can see that Asbestos is focused on themes of belonging, memory, and the fragility of the human psyche.

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