This year marks ten years since Damon Belanger, a graphic artist based in the San Francisco Bay Area, first turned everyday shadows into playful little scenes. He was commissioned to create 20 “fake” shadows in downtown Redwood City to bring more creativity to the streets, and the results caught people’s attention right away. Bike racks, mailboxes, and street signs became tiny stories on the pavement, surprising and delighting anyone who happened to notice them.

Looking back on how the project has evolved, Belanger says he’s been surprised by how quickly people connected with the idea. “It seems obvious now, but when you do something new, you never know if it’s going to work… will the angle make sense? Will it really look like a shadow? But as it turns out, I never had to explain what I’m

See Full Page