Kindness Is The Default (9 Photos)

A bottle cap becomes a shelter for two.

A dog reaches toward a painted child, and an opossum makes time for a story. These eight photos show small gestures of care and comfort.

More: They Look Alive (19 Photos of Art by David Zinn)

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🐾 A Helping Paw — By Trevor Coles in Nanaimo, Canada 🇨🇦

Erika Lopez photographed her dog Carlos resting a paw on a child stenciled on a wall in Nanaimo. He looks as though he is offering comfort.

More: Dog Trying to Comfort Sad Painted Boy

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☔ Room for Two — By Roy’s People

Two miniature figures share a green bottle-cap umbrella on wet pavement in Room for Two. Roy Tyson, who works as Roy’s People, hand-paints the figures he uses in his photographs.

💡 Nerd Fact: In 2014, Roy Tyson hid 30 miniature figures around London’s Covent Garden for a Big Issue Foundation project. Each figure carried a label telling the real-life story of a Big Issue vendor.

🔗 Follow Roy’s People on Instagram

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🧵 Street Workers — By HIJACK

Two stenciled workers stitch a damaged wall together as if they were closing a wound. HIJACK’s caption recognizes street workers whose help often goes unappreciated.

More: 42 Works of Street Art by HIJACK

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📖 Josie’s Story Time — By David Zinn in Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA 🇺🇸

Josie holds an open book while smaller opossums gather around her, including one perched on her head. Zinn’s caption says story time has once again turned into a question-and-answer session.

💡 Nerd Fact: Virginia opossums give birth after a pregnancy of just 12–13 days. According to the Smithsonian’s National Zoo, each newborn measures about 14 millimeters and continues developing in its mother’s pouch for roughly two months.

More: They Look Alive (19 Photos of Art by David Zinn)

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🫂 There Is Something Better Than Perfection — By Herakut in Frankfurt, Germany 🇩🇪

A woman cradles a small child, with golden masks resting above their faces. Herakut painted this wall in August 2013 as the thirteenth mural in their Giant Storybook Project, at the corner of Große Eschenheimer Straße and Stiftstraße. Photo by Cristina Civarria.

💡 Nerd Fact: Herakut launched the Giant Storybook Project in September 2012 to develop a children’s book. Its characters, including Lily, Jay and the giants, were introduced through murals painted in cities around the world.

More: Street Art by Herakut — In Frankfurt, Germany

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✈️ New Journey — By Alice Pasquini in Jersey City, New Jersey, USA 🇺🇸

Two figures watch a paper airplane carrying a letter. Pasquini painted New Journey in April 2014 at 276 First Street. It is the middle chapter of her three-mural story linking a sender and recipient across New Jersey and New York. Photo by Jessica Stewart.

More: By Alice Pasquini in Jersey City and New York (USA)

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🫂 Embrace Yourself — By Sasha Korban in Mykolaiv, Ukraine 🇺🇦

A woman wraps her arms around herself on a residential building at 28 Khersonske Shose. Korban created this mural for UNFPA Ukraine’s Break the Circle campaign against domestic violence, with support from Sky Art Foundation. UNFPA explains that the pose refers to a self-embrace technique used by specialists supporting women who have experienced abuse.

💡 Nerd Fact: The campaign also included Korban murals in Lysychansk and Mariupol. According to UNFPA’s 2020 account, the Mariupol work was inspired by words from a woman who had received help at one of its shelters.

More: Murals by Sasha Korban (16 Photos)

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✍️ A Small Act — By Karma in Dublin, Ireland 🇮🇪

A stenciled girl writes “No act of kindness, no matter how small, is ever wasted” across a shutter.

💡 Nerd Fact: The fable The Lion and the Mouse ends with “A kindness is never wasted” in the Library of Congress edition. A lion releases a mouse, which later saves him by gnawing through a hunter’s net.

More: No act of kindness, no matter how small, is ever wasted