Stairwell Twelve, Coated in Grey

I found this stairwell in a bloc outside Łódź where someone had rolled magnolia over the original mural — you can still see the ghost of a wheat sheaf pushing through near the second landing. Six layers of state-issue emulsion, each one a different decade's idea of neutral. I came back three Fridays in a row waiting for the low winter sun to enter through the landing window at exactly the right angle and rake across the surface.