The Modern Saints

Upon arrival to Berlin I wasn’t entirely sure of what to expect stepping off the plane. In my short time exploring I quickly fell in love with the city. From corner to corner the streets are overflowing with amazing artwork. Berlin’s street art seems to speak on the history and culture of the city. During a Fat Tire Bike tour of the city I saw a few pieces of street art that stood out to me, one being St. Redundus.

St. Redundus is one of ten saints in a series called the Modern Saints created by the Berlin based group Various and Gould. Many people feel that the traditional Catholic saints don’t relate to them anymore so the artist created saints that were true to modern day life in Berlin. St. Redundus is the saint of the unemployed and the homeless, in my opinion the image carries a powerful message. The tattered image quite literally displays how worn down the homeless population appears. The saint carries a bag of bottles like many homeless people in Berlin do, they exchange the bottles for a small amount of money.