Preface: We are excited to have Kseniya join us as a blogger and photographer on Street Art SF. She developed her interest in street art much in the same way we did, by walking by it daily. We look forward to sharing more of her work.

Some people collect souvenir magnets or similar tchotchkes when they travel, others bag global golf games. I collect street art. No matter where I travel, I make it a point to keep an eye out for a splash of color on a bleak wall, a sticker on a telephone pole, a stencil on a utility box. Souvenir postcards all look the same, but the variety of street art never fails to astound me.

On a recent trip to Vienna, I dutifully visited palaces, churches and the sort of art that lives in picture frames, indoors. These tourist-filled areas of the city seemed little conducive to street art – I only spotted one in 3 days, a somewhat faded but still amazing wheat paste of a bright bear-windmill-creature.

But, by chance, an evening stroll led me to the Donaucanal, or Danube Canal – the area along it is being redeveloped into hip bars and clubs, but the walkway along the water below leads to walls filled with murals and graffiti. I caught a free hour one rainy morning to take a closer look and capture some of it.

The canal is spanned by several bridges, and every square inch seems to be covered by graffiti. The lettering looked particularly bright in the gray drizzle.

The ramps sloping down to the water were also covered in art, like these stylized faces.

An ominous grin below a bridge.

An elaborate fever-dream of a mural by REM – a group started by street artist Nychos.

Someone very, very large left their heart in Vienna.

My favorite piece was this beautiful Klimt-inspired face, a fitting homage to the city’s most famous artist.