C-Wall by Omabunker x Dylan Mitro

The community wall “Love Letter from the Omabunker” was created in Berlin’s Bülowkiez through a collaboration between residents of a Gewobag senior housing community and Canadian Martha Cooper Fellow Dylan Mitro. Striking large-format black-and-white portraits and individual pairs of eyes were collaboratively applied as paste-ups on the building’s façade. The collage of detailed, lifelike portraits forms a cohesive image that conveys both intimacy and a strong presence in the urban space.

The wall makes older people visible, who are often overlooked in the cityscape, and stands as a powerful statement of community, self-determination, and joie de vivre. The project references works such as “Visages Villages” (2017), the final collaborative project of French filmmaker Agnès Varda with street artist JR, in which villagers were photographed and displayed as large-scale portraits on walls—an homage to everyday life and the dignity of the unseen—while also connecting with Mitro’s perspective on queer, chosen families and neighborhood solidarity. The result is a work that not only shapes the aesthetics of public space but also challenges social isolation and celebrates intergenerational solidarity—an impressive example of URBAN NATION’s participatory practice.

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Photos: Felix Seyfert/Gewobag