Ultimate Blogging Challenge January 2026 - Street Art at the Slaughterhouse

For over ten years I’ve been participating in a “five pictures a month” photo blog challenge. Each month we’re given a theme in advance, and at the end of the month we post five photos that interpret it, along with a short text. Sometimes it feels like our host is running out of ideas; other times, the theme is genuinely fresh and pushes you to flex your creative muscles. January 2026n is one of those months.

The theme this time is “Make your month colourful.” In April, that would be an easy assignment;  parks full of flowers, people shedding layers and wearing bright clothes. But January? In Switzerland, January is mostly grey. We were lucky enough to get some snow even in urban areas, but that raised the philosophical question: does white count as colourful?

Then came one of those rare January gifts: a proper blue-sky day. Crisp light, sharp shadows, and that feeling that if you don’t get outside now, you’ll miss it. That alone was reason enough to go looking for color.

While researching, I came across a large-scale street art project in Basel. Basel is a culturally rich Swiss city on the Rhine, bordering both France and Germany, a unique geographic position often referred to as the “border triangle.”

Not far from this tri-national corner lies the Bell Areal. Bell Food Group, founded in 1869 by Samuel Bell, is Switzerland’s leading meat processor and producer of convenience foods. 

In August 2020, during an event called Change of Colours, artists from Switzerland and abroad transformed a massive 1,700 m² (18,000 square feet) industrial wall on Neudorfstrasse into a bold, colourful mural; at the time the largest street art wall in Switzerland.

Several prominent artists were involved, including Mr Cenz from the UK, known for his expressive portraits, as well as Swiss artists Bane & Chromeo and Bustart. The project was organised by the Verein Urbane Kunst Basel, which promotes urban art in public spaces, and sponsored by Bell, the owner of the wall. Over the same weekend, more than 30 local and international artists painted nearby walls, effectively turning the area into an open-air gallery. Since then, events such as Urban Heart Basel have kept the site alive, allowing the artwork to evolve rather than remain static.

January is also one of the busiest months for me professionally. Clients using our payroll and ERP software need support with annual financial statements, evaluations, and opening the new accounting year. New insurance deductions have to be recorded, new employees registered — all of which means I work more than my usual part-time hours. Today, though, the blue sky felt like permission. Customer requests would still be there tomorrow, so I squeezed in a bit of much-needed me-time.

For some inexplicable reason, my satnav took me on a detour through France, past the EuroAirport, and back into Switzerland before finally guiding me to the Bell Areal on Schlachthofstrasse; literally “Slaughterhouse Street.” Not exactly an appetizing name. The surrounding industrial area isn’t beautiful either, which made the moment I finally arrived all the more striking.

After gray roads, concrete buildings and winter fatigue, I suddenly found myself standing in front of an explosion of color, under a rare January blue sky. In an industrial zone. Proof that color doesn’t have to be seasonal. Sometimes it’s simply waiting for the right light. And a day off ;-)

In your opinion, does white count as color? What brings color into your winter months when nature mostly presses pause?