Local woman captures images of Berlin Wall

FORT COLLINS - When the Berlin Wall fell on November 9, 1989, not all of it came crashing to the ground. A small stretch - not even a mile long - still stands. It's called the East Side Gallery.
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Shortly after the wall's demise, artists painted towering murals on sections of the Gallery. Graffiti artists then added their own mark.

For two decades, the East Side Gallery remained a symbol of freedom.

"The art just transcended the oppression of the wall," said Leslie Jimmerson, a Fort Collins resident.

Two years ago, Jimmerson stood before the Gallery while on a trip to Berlin. The murals captured her attention. The amateur photographer then captured the murals.

Jimmerson returned to her Fort Collins home with 700 pictures and one idea. She started to piece together a book by pairing the pictures with some of her favorite prose.

"I tried to make sure that (each quotation) spoke to each individual photograph," she said.

Attached to a picture of a spray-painted hand in the form of a peace sign there's a quotation from Pope John Paul II: "If you wish to be brothers, drop your weapons."

In the run-up to the 20th Anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall, the murals were sandblasted away. The original artists were then invited back to recreate their work.

Jimmerson's book helps ensure the memory of the old, cluttered wall won't fade.

"This is a snapshot in time," she said.

Jimmerson recently published her book. For more information on that, you can go to www.creativeunderground.net.