Look at the Camera. Smile. Click!

November Six Word Photo Story Challenge: “Collecting Smiles”

I didn’t know Tona was German.

The moment I first saw the street art created by Tona I was hooked. There was both a tenderness and a lightness to his figures. He depicts images of young children. They peek around corners, stand proudly, or play hide and seek.

They will undoubtlessly make you smile.

I always assumed Tona was Portuguese. His work dotted the town of Lagos where my partner and I spent winters. Every year we would encounter new creations on the dilapidated textured walls he prefers as his canvas.

Finding a new Tona figure is not always easy, as he often — but not always — finds subtle, off-the-beaten-path locations for his creations. Like a game of hide and seek.

I recently learned that Tona is the pseudonym of an anonymous street artist from Hamburg, Germany. His images are not intended as criticism, irony, or protest. Instead, they engage in a slow and cautious contact with the viewer —creating a warm emotional response.

The children are usually the onlookers who surround him as he paints. He photographs them, and from those images, he makes highly detailed stencils which he then uses to transfer the images onto city walls.

Tona is an avid traveler. Since he began his art career in 1999, his images have graced walls in Germany, Portugal, France, India, Japan, and many other places.

This image of a squatting smiling young boy is one of my favorite works by Tona. The boy appears to be looking right at me, flashing an impish smile. It is impossible not to smile back.