Hidden Balloon Stickers

July 24, 2016

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There’s a good deal of construction along Wabash, and large sections of it are blocked off with temporary fences and barriers. A few days ago, while walking to the Metra station, I glanced up and spotted a series of stickers placed pretty methodically along one of the El support beams.

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A closer look at each image.

I wonder if this was done prior to all the construction kicking in. Given the placement of the stickers and the fence, I’m guessing so. But realizing that makes me wonder how I missed this, walking by every day, to and from work?

Ever since my first days in Chicago (living in Wicker Park circa 2000), I’ve gained an awareness and love of stickers and street art. Walking along North Avenue to the Blue Line, it seemed like every morning there was something new to be seen.

Living there trained me to keep an eye out for random, unexpected things placed throughout the city. So finding these stickers was a kind of double surprise – a surprise on seeing them, and a surprise that they had eluded me for so long.