Heroes Not Zombies

What does your front door look like?

As I wandered through the streets of Angoulême the other day, I came across this front door.

The house seemed just an ordinary house in an ordinary street, but look what they’ve painted on the door!

This makes me wonder – who painted this? Does the person who painted this live here? Or did they commission this? And, what effect does it have on the people who use this door?

It certainly made me smile. In fact, I’d say it “delighted” me, which made me think having a door like this might just contribute to lightening the state of mind of the person who uses this door.

Isn’t this so uniquely human?

If a door was simply something to secure an entrance way, or something to fill the space of the doorway, then what would be the point of painting this on it? Isn’t this such a human thing to do? To create. To make art. To change the experience of the everyday environment by engaging with it using imagination, using a sense of beauty, of fun and of delight.

We are the co-creators of our lives, not least by the way we use images, symbols, and art.