tag:theconversation.com,2011:/ca/topics/street-art-7819/articles
Street art – The Conversation
2024-01-28T19:03:34Z
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/216003
2024-01-28T19:03:34Z
2024-01-28T19:03:34Z
Images shape cities, but who decides which ones survive? It’s a matter of visual justice
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/569971/original/file-20240118-22-5ebhv1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=20%2C138%2C4633%2C3104&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Sabina Andron</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>In the early hours, poster installers head out with buckets of wheat paste and gig advertisements, refreshing the thousands of square metres of street poster sites in Melbourne. Graffiti writers and artists also take to the walls with their pieces. Municipal surface cleaners soon follow with chemicals and pressure washers. </p>
<p>Our city buildings are covered with posters, signs, art and graffiti. Their creators’ tools are images: profitable, seductive, confronting, removed. </p>
<p>Yet we rarely think about their collective role in articulating social values. While their creators’ values might differ, their ambition is the same: a higher stake in shaping the image and values of the city. </p>
<p>Our research draws together municipal agendas with a critical history of how public images are produced and regulated in cities. The aim is to develop ways to deal with images in more responsive and creative ways. How can we better manage them to support social justice, diversity and belonging in cities? </p>
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<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/covid-19-murals-express-hope-and-help-envision-urban-futures-138706">COVID-19 murals express hope and help envision urban futures</a>
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<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="An Aboriginal flag draped the length of a building frontage" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/569976/original/file-20240118-27-ri412u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/569976/original/file-20240118-27-ri412u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=449&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/569976/original/file-20240118-27-ri412u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=449&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/569976/original/file-20240118-27-ri412u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=449&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/569976/original/file-20240118-27-ri412u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=564&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/569976/original/file-20240118-27-ri412u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=564&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/569976/original/file-20240118-27-ri412u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=564&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The creators of urban images, such as this Aboriginal flag running the length of a building, have a say in shaping the city’s image and values.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Sabina Andron</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Images are instruments of urban governance</h2>
<p>Managing urban images is a priority for municipal governments across the world. Melbourne, the source of the images in this article, is no exception. </p>
<p>Urban branding, <a href="https://www.melbourne.vic.gov.au/arts-and-culture/art-outdoors/Pages/street-art.aspx">graffiti removal</a>, <a href="https://flash-fwd.com/">mural art</a> and <a href="https://urban-graphic-object.lboro.ac.uk/">graphic heritage</a> are just some of the ways in which the city is governed through images. They contribute to how we read urban environments and can create a strong sense of place, identity and character.</p>
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<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/vietnams-disappearing-vintage-signs-are-pop-culture-remnants-of-a-bygone-era-75809">Vietnam's disappearing vintage signs are pop culture remnants of a bygone era</a>
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<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A collection of official place name and street signs and headwear of people doing official roles" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/556486/original/file-20231030-15-w23k9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/556486/original/file-20231030-15-w23k9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=449&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/556486/original/file-20231030-15-w23k9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=449&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/556486/original/file-20231030-15-w23k9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=449&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/556486/original/file-20231030-15-w23k9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=564&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/556486/original/file-20231030-15-w23k9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=564&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/556486/original/file-20231030-15-w23k9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=564&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A display of name plaques and street signage from the City of Melbourne Art and Heritage Collection. Graphic objects such as these continue to shape the city’s identity.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Sabina Andron</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>At the same time, individual actions in creating images form a collective visual discourse. Displaying political placards in street-facing windows, writing graffiti on public walls or painting over unwanted tagging are all visual contributions to the city’s image and character.</p>
<p>While we may not agree on which of these approaches should take precedence, images play a significant role in how we all encounter, navigate and experience urban spaces. They form an <a href="https://www.bloomsbury.com/au/new-urban-aesthetic-9781350070837/">urban aesthetic</a> that is continuously calibrated by state and private actors. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Tagging on the concrete wall of a bridge over a creek is painted over" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/556478/original/file-20231030-29-9wvlbl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/556478/original/file-20231030-29-9wvlbl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=449&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/556478/original/file-20231030-29-9wvlbl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=449&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/556478/original/file-20231030-29-9wvlbl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=449&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/556478/original/file-20231030-29-9wvlbl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=564&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/556478/original/file-20231030-29-9wvlbl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=564&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/556478/original/file-20231030-29-9wvlbl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=564&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">People who paint over tagging are making their own visual contribution.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Sabina Andron</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/transgress-to-impress-why-do-people-tag-buildings-and-are-there-any-solutions-205492">Transgress to impress: why do people tag buildings – and are there any solutions?</a>
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</em>
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<h2>We value some images above others</h2>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/569980/original/file-20240118-17-wz0bip.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/569980/original/file-20240118-17-wz0bip.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/569980/original/file-20240118-17-wz0bip.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=802&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/569980/original/file-20240118-17-wz0bip.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=802&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/569980/original/file-20240118-17-wz0bip.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=802&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/569980/original/file-20240118-17-wz0bip.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1008&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/569980/original/file-20240118-17-wz0bip.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1008&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/569980/original/file-20240118-17-wz0bip.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1008&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">On a small sticker on a street pole, the globally recognised ACAB signifies resistance against structural violence and police brutality, enhanced by a feminist message of body positivity.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Sabina Andron</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The more successful instances of urban visual infrastructure are often innocuous. As the saying goes, great design is invisible. But it can also be informal, unregulated or even illegal.</p>
<p>A visit to the recently opened <a href="https://citycollection.melbourne.vic.gov.au/">City of Melbourne Art and Heritage Collection</a> reveals how unplanned images such as stickers, stencils or protest signs deserve attention alongside their standardised counterparts such as traffic signs, wayfinding signs, and memorial plaques. Yet our understanding of their cultural value remains partial and biased.</p>
<p>For example, more than 100 public murals are listed in the Victorian Heritage Register. Also listed are a handful of building signs that many Melbournians will know: the Skipping Girl, Pelaco and Nylex signs in Richmond, and the Whelan the Wrecker sign in Brunswick.</p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/how-dc-mayor-bowser-used-graffiti-to-protect-public-space-140580">How DC Mayor Bowser used graffiti to protect public space</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
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<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A mural of many human body outlines on a wall" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/569972/original/file-20240118-29-aehxwa.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/569972/original/file-20240118-29-aehxwa.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=449&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/569972/original/file-20240118-29-aehxwa.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=449&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/569972/original/file-20240118-29-aehxwa.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=449&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/569972/original/file-20240118-29-aehxwa.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=564&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/569972/original/file-20240118-29-aehxwa.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=564&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/569972/original/file-20240118-29-aehxwa.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=564&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">This 1984 mural by New York artist Keith Haring is on the Victorian Heritage Register. A sign has been erected (below) to explain its significance.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Sabina Andron</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/569978/original/file-20240118-21-wdsuv.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/569978/original/file-20240118-21-wdsuv.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/569978/original/file-20240118-21-wdsuv.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=802&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/569978/original/file-20240118-21-wdsuv.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=802&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/569978/original/file-20240118-21-wdsuv.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=802&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/569978/original/file-20240118-21-wdsuv.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1008&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/569978/original/file-20240118-21-wdsuv.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1008&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/569978/original/file-20240118-21-wdsuv.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1008&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Sabina Andron</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>However, graffiti is nowhere to be found in the upper echelons of our value scales for urban images. Neither are street posters, stickers or other mundane images that shape and enliven our public spaces. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/02723638.2022.2139950">Recent research</a> on the governance of graffiti and street art, alongside our interviews with local authorities and graffiti removal companies, indicate the following:</p>
<ul>
<li><p>public image policies often value visual order above aesthetic and expressive diversity</p></li>
<li><p>the protection of private property is prioritised over the imaginative use of public surfaces as a shared, common resource</p></li>
<li><p>we enforce these values by privileging certain voices over others in the expression of public life and urban experience.</p></li>
</ul>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/569979/original/file-20240118-17-ri412u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/569979/original/file-20240118-17-ri412u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=449&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/569979/original/file-20240118-17-ri412u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=449&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/569979/original/file-20240118-17-ri412u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=449&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/569979/original/file-20240118-17-ri412u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=564&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/569979/original/file-20240118-17-ri412u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=564&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/569979/original/file-20240118-17-ri412u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=564&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Young people collectively painted this wall in the City of Yarra. Visibility in cities can be empowering and increase a sense of belonging.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Sabina Andron</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/getting-to-the-street-art-of-a-year-like-no-other-149923">Getting to the (street) art of a year like no other</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>All public images are culturally significant</h2>
<p>Could we apply <a href="https://australia.icomos.org/publications/burra-charter-practice-notes/">heritage principles of cultural significance</a> to the names and messages scribbled next to our local tram stop in the same way as we do to <a href="https://melbourneharingmural.com.au/">murals</a> or <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2023/jan/19/mapping-melbournes-ghost-signs-its-become-an-obsession-i-know-it-sounds-unhealthy">ghost signs</a>? And could we develop more nuanced value protocols for public images in the face of increased social division?</p>
<p>Images in public space reflect and represent divergent social values. As a result, they force us to confront our individual and societal biases. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A poster pasted on a wall is covered in handwritten comments" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/569977/original/file-20240118-17-u3alzk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/569977/original/file-20240118-17-u3alzk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=449&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/569977/original/file-20240118-17-u3alzk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=449&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/569977/original/file-20240118-17-u3alzk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=449&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/569977/original/file-20240118-17-u3alzk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=564&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/569977/original/file-20240118-17-u3alzk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=564&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/569977/original/file-20240118-17-u3alzk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=564&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Urban walls are public forums. This poster depicts four women of different skin colours, with the Torres Strait Islander and Aboriginal flags and the message ‘Decolonise sex work’. The transgender flag is a later addition, along with the hand-written comments.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Sabina Andron</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Cities are never unanimous, harmonious congregations, and neither are their public images. They are also bastions of resistance, radical politics and competing claims to urban rights. Protest signs, graffiti tags and political posters and stickers are social infrastructure. </p>
<p>As urban dwellers, our <a href="https://www.taylorfrancis.com/books/mono/10.4324/9781003456070/urban-surfaces-graffiti-right-city-sabina-andron">right to the city</a> includes the ability to edit our urban environments and contribute directly to urban visual culture. Healthy urban environments grow at the intersection of all these image types, in their places of tension and disagreement – what we refer to as <em>urban visual justice</em>. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A commercial Lipton Tea sign painted on a wall above 2 official signs about restrictions, with stickers put over them, flanked by large advertising posters" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/569981/original/file-20240118-27-lwyivj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/569981/original/file-20240118-27-lwyivj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=449&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/569981/original/file-20240118-27-lwyivj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=449&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/569981/original/file-20240118-27-lwyivj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=449&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/569981/original/file-20240118-27-lwyivj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=564&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/569981/original/file-20240118-27-lwyivj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=564&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/569981/original/file-20240118-27-lwyivj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=564&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A faded mural advertisement (ghost sign), municipal signs covered in stickers, framed street posters and faded graffiti tags occupy shared surfaces, demonstrating visual justice through the presence of multiple voices.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Sabina Andron</span></span>
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</figure>
<p>On your next journey through the city, stop to appreciate the variety of images it shows you. Which values do they capture and promote? What is visible and what is not? And where do you fit in? </p>
<p>A research and policy framework for urban visual justice can lead to greater belonging, representation and justice in urban experience. It improves visibility and voice for communities in public space. If we pay enough attention, images can teach us everything we need to know about cities.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/216003/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
Our city streets are covered with posters, signage, art and graffiti. How can these public images support diversity and justice in cities?
Sabina Andron, Postdoctoral Research Fellow in Cities and Urbanism, The University of Melbourne
Lutfun Nahar Lata, Lecturer in Sociology and Social Policy, The University of Melbourne
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/216940
2023-11-29T16:28:13Z
2023-11-29T16:28:13Z
Skateboard at the Design Museum celebrates 60 years of style, culture and cool
<p>Skateboards are not complicated design objects. They consist of little more than a simple deck, usually made of wood, which forms the riding surface. The board is completed by a pair of trucks (pivoted metal turning devices) and four polyurethane wheels.</p>
<p>With a few rare exceptions, none of this involves particularly advanced design, fabrication, materials, technology or aesthetics. So why has the Design Museum – London’s prestigious venue for the celebration of contemporary design – decided to mount <a href="https://designmuseum.org/exhibitions/skateboard?utm_source=paid%20&utm_medium=paid&utm_campaign=Skateboard-Max&gad_source=1&gclid=CjwKCAiAmZGrBhAnEiwAo9qHiRg-ghH95BfTqZqusqdfFfbPOMmxhrtCAGROZiZopaMz-iEasCTABRoCvhUQAvD_BwE">Skateboard</a>, a substantial exhibition devoted to this simple creation?</p>
<p><a href="https://www.redbull.com/gb-en/skateboarding-101-beginner-guide">Skateboarding</a> first emerged in the late 1950s in the US, particularly in California and Florida’s beachside cities. The early pioneers were surfers who used devised skateboards from roller-skates to emulate surfing on asphalt roads and pavements. In the 1970s, their successors enjoyed the benefits of polyurethane wheels and wider boards to explore drained swimming pools, reservoirs, ditches and even new purpose-built skateparks.</p>
<p>By the late 1970s skateboarding was a global phenomenon that represented gritty urban cool, and continued this way into the <a href="https://www.skatedeluxe.com/blog/en/wiki/skateboarding/obstacle-guide/halfpipe/">wooden half-pipe terrains</a> of the 1980s and the urban street settings of the 1990s onwards. With its burgeoning popularity, a distinctive subculture emerged involving fashion, street art, music and rebellious attitudes.</p>
<p>Since the 2010s, skateboarding has morphed again, enjoying <a href="https://theconversation.com/from-outlier-to-olympic-sport-how-skateboarding-made-it-to-the-tokyo-games-165152">Olympic participation</a> in the Tokyo 2020/21 games, extending its reach to more diverse riders in terms of gender, age, ethnicity, sexuality and disability. Japan, Brazil, UK and China have joined the US as big skateboarding countries, establishing it as an intrinsic part of urban life worldwide.</p>
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<h2>Evolution and revolution</h2>
<p>The very simplicity of the skateboard belies a more subtle development over the last 60 years than might first be appreciated, so the Design Museum’s chronological presentation of boards, from the late 1950s to the present day makes good sense. And it’s fascinating, too. The earliest homemade devices are astonishingly makeshift, including an example made by nailing a pair of roller skate wheels and trucks to a piece of wood.</p>
<p>The development of skateboards began with the short surfboard-inspired creations of the 1960s. The first “kicktails” (decks with an angled rear to improve leverage) and polyurethane wheels came along in the early 1970s. The late 1970s saw wider boards and trucks and later advances in the 1980s included double-kick decks with angled nose and rear, and smaller wheels and straight-sided boards in the 1990s.</p>
<p>Along the way, creative graphic designs revealing symbols, logos, cartoon figures, abstract patterns and graffiti were added to underside of decks. For older skate aficionados this is a kind of heaven – an opportunity to reminisce, linger and focus on nostalgic details. </p>
<p>For non-skateboarders, it is equally compelling, revealing the rapid change of skateboard styling and the cool culture that came with it. But it is also a chance to appreciate some of the nuanced design changes. Fibreglass, metal, plastic and wooden decks, the size and geometry of trucks, improved bearings for smoother turns, the introduction of grip-tape to add friction to the top of the deck, and the development of concave riding surfaces are all part of the story.</p>
<p>Some of the objects are well known, such as the Roller Derby from the 1960s (the <a href="https://myskatespots.com/event/roller-derby-skate-board-first-mass-produced-skateboard/">first mass-produced skateboard</a>), and the <a href="https://newtons-shred.co.uk/brands/vision-skateboards/">Vision “Mark Gonzales” model</a> from the 1980s, which was made in the hundreds of thousands. Others are much rarer, including a <a href="https://vintagesurfboardcollectoruk.blogspot.com/2009/12/1967-bilbo-skateboard.html">1960s Bilbo</a> – the first ever commercial UK board – and an experimental <a href="https://www.trendhunter.com/trends/project-rpsd">Jason Knight/Project RPSD deck</a> made from recycled plastic.</p>
<p>And while the exhibition is by no means comprehensive, the overall effect is to show how the skateboarding industry has been vibrant and innovative over the years, constantly evolving its products. For example, we see wheels move from the small “clay” compositions of the 1960s, to the larger 60-65mm diameter polyurethane examples of the 1970s, specifically designed for smooth skateparks. But then they went back again to much smaller wheels in the 1990s, which helped with street-based tricks and manoeuvres.</p>
<h2>A bigger story</h2>
<p>Just as football is more than the ball, skateboarding extends far beyond the skateboard itself. Curators <a href="https://www.jonathanolivares.com/viewmaster/73">Jonathan Olivares</a>, himself a skateboarder, and <a href="https://showstudio.com/contributors/tory_turk">Tory Turk</a> have also carefully interspersed displays with numerous magazines, photographs, books, safety gear, cameras, records, video games and other paraphernalia associated with the culture (including a few magazines and pamphlets from my own collection).</p>
<p><div data-react-class="InstagramEmbed" data-react-props="{"url":"https://www.instagram.com/p/Cyyd7VaMjWv","accessToken":"127105130696839|b4b75090c9688d81dfd245afe6052f20"}"></div></p>
<p>This is not just a fetishist display for skate nerds but rather an exploration of objects which connect to much wider social and cultural phenomena. Many of the boards on display, for example, are scarred with the scrapes and bashes of heavy usage and a few are close to destruction, clearly indicating their active life outside of the museum.</p>
<p>The inclusion of things like Aga Wood’s “<a href="https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2021.636111/full">Right to the City</a>/Ride in the City” board and her social enterprise <a href="https://www.everyoneonboards.com/">Everyone on Boards</a>, alongside women’s skateboard magazines and photographs of older skaters and trans skaters, signals how skateboarding has dramatically extended its political relevance, particularly in the last decade.</p>
<p>These exhibits indicate how skateboarding critiques urban space (including skaters’ right to access to it) and helps build social inclusion. Many of these items, such as the <a href="https://www.thrashermagazine.com/articles/in-da-store/ramp-plans-book/">Thrasher ramp-building guide</a> show how the skate scene is infused with a punkish DIY approach to creativity.</p>
<p>There is even a skateable ramp, designed by Olivares with <a href="https://www.betongpark.co.uk/about">Betongpark</a>, bringing real skateboarding into the museum, and animating it with a sense of informality and fun. Another key component is a film by Olivares with skateboarding chroniclers <a href="http://www.sixstairstudio.com/about.html">Six Stair</a>, providing an excellent history of the phenomenon.</p>
<p>As an exhibition Skateboard is not unique – this summer’s <a href="https://www.londoncallingskateboardinguk.com/">London Calling</a> and 2021’s <a href="https://www.somersethouse.org.uk/whats-on/no-comply">No Comply</a> similarly celebrated the culture of skateboarding. But the Design Museum’s offering is much larger and more ambitious in focus, providing a nuanced look at the complexity of skateboarding and its history, design and objects. Skateboards may be simple, but skateboarding is not.</p>
<hr>
<figure class="align-left ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/536131/original/file-20230706-17-460x2d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/536131/original/file-20230706-17-460x2d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536131/original/file-20230706-17-460x2d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536131/original/file-20230706-17-460x2d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536131/original/file-20230706-17-460x2d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536131/original/file-20230706-17-460x2d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536131/original/file-20230706-17-460x2d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
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</figure>
<p><em>Looking for something good? Cut through the noise with a carefully curated selection of the latest releases, live events and exhibitions, straight to your inbox every fortnight, on Fridays. <a href="https://theconversation.com/uk/newsletters/something-good-156">Sign up here</a>.</em></p>
<hr><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/216940/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Iain Borden does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
The desire to transfer the thrills of surfing on to dry land created the monumental culture of skateboarding, now vividly documented in a new exhibition.
Iain Borden, Professor of Architecture and Urban Culture, UCL
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/209678
2023-08-30T12:15:36Z
2023-08-30T12:15:36Z
Iran’s street art shows defiance, resistance and resilience
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/544073/original/file-20230822-25-i14aug.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=11%2C2%2C1905%2C1379&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">'While the teachers are detained, the classrooms will be closed,' reads one artist's painting on a wall.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.instagram.com/khiabantribune/">Khiaban Tribune via Instagram</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>A recent rise in activism in Iran has added a new chapter to the country’s long-standing history of murals and other public art. But as the <a href="https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2022/09/mahsa-amini-irans-protests-rebellion-bodily-autonomy">sentiments being expressed in those works</a> have changed, the government’s view of them has shifted, too.</p>
<p>The ancient Persians, who lived in what is now Iran, adorned their palaces, temples and tombs with intricate wall paintings, showcasing scenes of royal court life, religious rituals and epic tales. Following the <a href="https://www.mei.edu/publications/iranian-revolution-february-1979">1979 revolution</a> and the <a href="https://www.history.com/topics/middle-east/iran-iraq-war">Iran-Iraq war</a>, murals in Iran took on a new significance and played a crucial role in shaping the national narrative. <a href="https://doi.org/10.2143/PERS.22.0.2034398">These murals</a> became powerful visual representations of the ideals and values of the Islamic Republic. They were used to depict scenes of heroism, martyrdom and religious devotion, aiming to inspire national unity and pride among Iranians.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/544819/original/file-20230825-19-d8v6t1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A view of stone ruins of an ancient city." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/544819/original/file-20230825-19-d8v6t1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/544819/original/file-20230825-19-d8v6t1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=398&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/544819/original/file-20230825-19-d8v6t1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=398&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/544819/original/file-20230825-19-d8v6t1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=398&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/544819/original/file-20230825-19-d8v6t1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=500&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/544819/original/file-20230825-19-d8v6t1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=500&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/544819/original/file-20230825-19-d8v6t1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=500&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Persepolis, the ceremonial capital of the Achaemenid Empire in what is now Iran, was founded by Darius the Great in the sixth century B.C.E.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:2018-09-21_Iran,_Persepolis,_Tachara_(from_the_southeast).jpg">Laurens R. Krol</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Over the centuries, these artworks came to adorn many public spaces, including the walls of mosques, universities and government buildings, becoming symbols of patriotism and religious devotion.</p>
<p>After the <a href="https://apnews.com/article/6ec14c93985143dfbe3d4d0c249128cc">Islamic Revolution overthrew</a> Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi in 1979, murals began to convey new political messages and ideological propaganda. They celebrated the ideals of the Islamic Revolution and showcased the leadership of Ayatollah Khomeini and other prominent figures of the revolution. </p>
<p>Murals frequently depicted <a href="https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/tehranbureau/2012/06/art-painted-politics-the-mural-in-modern-iran.html">anti-Western sentiments, condemning foreign interference and imperialism</a>. They also highlighted the concept of martyrdom and the importance of defending the Islamic Republic against external threats, aiming to inspire national unity and pride among Iranians.</p>
<p>In 2022, the Iranian morality police arrested Mahsa (Jhina) Amini for allegedly failing to wear her hijab properly. After she died in police custody, public protests broke out across the country with the slogan <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/09/16/world/middleeast/iran-death-woman-protests.html">“Woman, Life, Freedom”</a> – and led to a new round of public art in Iran. </p>
<p>As a <a href="https://www.uml.edu/fahss/art/faculty/afshar-pouya.aspx">scholar of Iranian contemporary art</a>, but more importantly as someone who studies the development of Iranian artists, I see their renewed determination to promote freedom as a cultural necessity in Iran, even in the face of a government crackdown.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/542382/original/file-20230811-17-nauzez.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A mural shows a black-and-white figure holding a stick, at the end of which is a colorful plant." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/542382/original/file-20230811-17-nauzez.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/542382/original/file-20230811-17-nauzez.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/542382/original/file-20230811-17-nauzez.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/542382/original/file-20230811-17-nauzez.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/542382/original/file-20230811-17-nauzez.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/542382/original/file-20230811-17-nauzez.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/542382/original/file-20230811-17-nauzez.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">‘Such bravery was hidden in this land’ reads an Iranian protest mural.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.instagram.com/khiabantribune/">Khiaban Tribune via Instagram</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Street art as protest</h2>
<p>In the months following Amini’s death, artists, activists, and, most importantly, ordinary citizens poured into the streets to claim the public spaces and call for freedom. </p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/542396/original/file-20230811-40119-h82r98.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Iranian street art shows a woman raising her arms, with fists clenched." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/542396/original/file-20230811-40119-h82r98.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/542396/original/file-20230811-40119-h82r98.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=725&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/542396/original/file-20230811-40119-h82r98.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=725&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/542396/original/file-20230811-40119-h82r98.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=725&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/542396/original/file-20230811-40119-h82r98.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=911&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/542396/original/file-20230811-40119-h82r98.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=911&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/542396/original/file-20230811-40119-h82r98.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=911&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Iranian street art shows a woman raising her arms, with fists clenched.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.instagram.com/khiabantribune/">Khiaban Tribune via Instagram</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Street art emerged as a <a href="https://iranian-studies.stanford.edu/events/women-art-freedom-women-artists-street-politics-iran">powerful medium</a> through which individuals could address a wide array of pressing social and political issues, including women’s rights, freedom of expression, political activism and the desire for a life free from the constraints of religious laws. </p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/544651/original/file-20230824-19-eh41d.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A pool of red water." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/544651/original/file-20230824-19-eh41d.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/544651/original/file-20230824-19-eh41d.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=469&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/544651/original/file-20230824-19-eh41d.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=469&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/544651/original/file-20230824-19-eh41d.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=469&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/544651/original/file-20230824-19-eh41d.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=589&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/544651/original/file-20230824-19-eh41d.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=589&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/544651/original/file-20230824-19-eh41d.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=589&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Fountains in Tehran were turned the color of blood in protest at the government crackdown on protests.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.instagram.com/khiabantribune/">Khiaban Tribune via Instagram</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Graffiti artists, in particular, played a vital role in expressing dissent and resistance. Throughout Iranian cities, <a href="https://www.economist.com/middle-east-and-africa/2022/11/17/irans-protesters-are-painting-for-freedom">evocative graffiti murals have appeared</a>, telling stories of struggle, liberation and the indomitable spirit of the movement through the past 45 years since the 1979 revolution.</p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/542390/original/file-20230811-21-k65jk0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A hand holding an axe chops off a hand holding a noose." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/542390/original/file-20230811-21-k65jk0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/542390/original/file-20230811-21-k65jk0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=594&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/542390/original/file-20230811-21-k65jk0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=594&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/542390/original/file-20230811-21-k65jk0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=594&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/542390/original/file-20230811-21-k65jk0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=747&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/542390/original/file-20230811-21-k65jk0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=747&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/542390/original/file-20230811-21-k65jk0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=747&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">‘If you do not stop killing, you will be finished’ reads a piece of graffiti in Iran.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.instagram.com/khiabantribune/">Khiaban Tribune via Instagram</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Watching the progression of the Woman, Life, Freedom movement and the distribution of art created parallel to it, I noticed that artists turned public spaces into platforms for political messages, critiquing policies, advocating social change and promoting gender equality.</p>
<p>Sometimes even a dialogue emerged on the walls between the oppressed and the oppressor. Artists depicted pictures of the killed citizens, the activists detained, as well as iconic images of the revolution. The <a href="https://www.al-monitor.com/originals/2018/02/iranian-graffiti-artists-walled-in.html">government erased or painted over</a> the graffiti, but protesters came back with new images and messages. </p>
<p>Central to this movement is the participation of both professional artists and non-artist citizens, instigating change and fostering consciousness through powerful imagery created on the city walls. <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-female-iranian-activists-use-powerful-images-to-protest-oppressive-policies-193507">Ordinary people participate</a> in changing the city’s visual landscape by expressing themselves through art.</p>
<h2>The government responds</h2>
<p>The rise of protest art in Iran has faced opposition from the government, which viewed these forms of <a href="https://www.theartnewspaper.com/2023/04/20/iranian-artists-continue-to-create-and-exhibit-work-in-face-of-countrys-worsening-human-rights-situation">expression as acts of defiance</a>.</p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/542391/original/file-20230811-15-o479w3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Part of an official street sign is painted over with handwriting." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/542391/original/file-20230811-15-o479w3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/542391/original/file-20230811-15-o479w3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=568&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/542391/original/file-20230811-15-o479w3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=568&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/542391/original/file-20230811-15-o479w3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=568&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/542391/original/file-20230811-15-o479w3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=714&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/542391/original/file-20230811-15-o479w3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=714&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/542391/original/file-20230811-15-o479w3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=714&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A street sign honoring someone who died in the Iran-Iraq war has that person’s name covered up and replaced with that of Mohsen Shekari, hanged in 2022 for participating in anti-government protests.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.instagram.com/khiabantribune/">Khiaban Tribune via Instagram</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Government suppression tactics in response to murals and expressions of dissent have been <a href="https://pen.org/press-release/deep-concern-over-multiple-arrests-of-writers-artists-musicians-in-iran-related-to-repression-of-mass-protests-since-september/">alarmingly severe</a>. These tactics encompassed frequent physical removal of murals that challenged the status quo, aiming to silence the voices of those speaking out against injustice by detaining, kidnapping and threatening the lives of their creators. In addition to this visual erasure, <a href="https://www.iranintl.com/en/202304197826">authorities imprisoned artists and other demonstrators</a> for their activism and imposed employment restrictions as punitive measures.</p>
<p>Despite <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/in-sight/wp/2014/10/16/2538/">governmental opposition</a> and legal challenges, artists and activists persevered. They have used art to voice their concerns, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/may/12/iran-women-hijab-facebook-pictures-alinejad">challenge societal norms</a> and advocate for change.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/209678/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Pouya Afshar does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
Iranian artists are showing renewed determination to promote freedom as a cultural necessity in Iran, even in the face of a government crackdown.
Pouya Afshar, Associate Professor of Art & Design, UMass Lowell
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/196995
2023-06-20T12:28:30Z
2023-06-20T12:28:30Z
Graffiti has undergone a massive shift in a few quick decades as street art gains social acceptance
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/519120/original/file-20230403-166-1bmapg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C22%2C3058%2C2014&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Tagging, once considered vandalism, has gained cachet and economic value in the art world. </span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://unsplash.com/photos/E0r_BGagxRg">Ashim D’Silva for Unsplash.com</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Graffiti has become so mainstream in recent years that <a href="https://www.sothebys.com/en/press/sothebys-presents-first-of-its-kind-online-auction-celebrating-first-generation-of-new-york-graffiti-and-street-artists">auction houses</a>, <a href="https://museumofgraffiti.com">museums</a> and entire <a href="https://www.moca.org/exhibition/art-in-the-streets">art shows</a> cater to street art connoisseurs and collectors around the world. <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tPJIYfAMgHw">Images in the news</a> of young vandals responsible for marking walls have been replaced by sleek websites belonging to <a href="https://www.banksy.co.uk">global phenoms such as Banksy</a> and <a href="https://obeygiant.com">Shepard Fairey</a>. </p>
<p>In cities around the world, graffiti is now associated with “street artists” rather than violent street gangs. Today, many cities, from Pittsburgh to Pretoria, invite street artists to help brand neighborhoods that are being revitalized and gentrified as legitimately hip destinations for business owners, home buyers and influencers. Some up-and-coming neighborhoods in cities like <a href="https://www.smartcitiesdive.com/ex/sustainablecitiescollective/dakar-graffiti-festival-connects-artists-cultures-and-ideas/243591/">Dakar, Senegal</a>; <a href="https://theculturetrip.com/north-america/mexico/articles/a-street-art-tour-of-mexico-city/">Mexico City</a>; <a href="https://bsafest.com.au">Brisbane, Australia</a>; and <a href="https://www.koreaherald.com/view.php?ud=20220929000685">Seoul, South Korea</a> offer <a href="https://www.barcelonastreetstyletour.com">street art tours</a> and host <a href="https://streetartgoods.com/blogs/news/2022-travel-guide">graffiti festivals</a>. </p>
<p>The vibrantly colored walls in such places attract travelers to parts of town once deemed “sketchy.” These same neighborhoods are home to bookstores that carry graffiti coffee table books and universities that offer courses on graffiti art. <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?hl=en&user=o1BDAykAAAAJ">I have taught</a> such courses myself. But it hasn’t always been this way. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/519123/original/file-20230403-1324-zqz518.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="An oversized mural painted on the side of a building and on the ground of a person at a desk." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/519123/original/file-20230403-1324-zqz518.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/519123/original/file-20230403-1324-zqz518.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/519123/original/file-20230403-1324-zqz518.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/519123/original/file-20230403-1324-zqz518.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/519123/original/file-20230403-1324-zqz518.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/519123/original/file-20230403-1324-zqz518.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/519123/original/file-20230403-1324-zqz518.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">5Pointz was a curated mural space for graffiti artists in Queens, New York. When the walls were unexpectedly painted over, the artists sued, resulting in a $6.7M judgment.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://unsplash.com/photos/Urt2tOrxSV8">Julie Ricard for Unsplash.com</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>The history of tagging</h2>
<p>Before becoming an academic who teaches and <a href="https://press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/chicago/G/bo26835013.html">writes about graffiti</a>, I was a graffiti writer. I started tagging, or illegally writing my name — Cisco CBS — on surfaces across Los Angeles in the early 1990s. </p>
<p>At the time, local governments were cracking down on wall writers with anti-gang legislation, such as California’s 1988 <a href="https://law.justia.com/codes/california/2007/pen/186.20-186.33.html">Street Terrorism Enforcement and Prevention</a> Act, and a variety of “<a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/1982/03/broken-windows/304465/">broken windows theory</a>” policing initiatives. </p>
<p><a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/s10612-019-09444-w">Law enforcement</a> didn’t seem to understand what the writing on walls meant or who was behind those cryptic images and personal monikers. Many residents couldn’t read or understand it either. Graffiti was interpreted as <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/s10612-019-09444-w">gang-related</a> and, therefore, territorial and violent. Vandals were targeted with well-funded <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/s10612-019-09444-w">anti-graffiti task forces</a> and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1386/vi_00011_1">police crackdowns</a> on <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/02/03/opinion/los-angeles-gang-database.html">taggers like me</a>.</p>
<p>It was not enough, it seemed, to rightfully charge graffiti writers with vandalism. Rather, police and district attorneys, backed by a <a href="https://doi.org/10.1386/vi_00011_1">morally panicked</a> public, were making an example of graffiti writers, charging them with felonies, giving them <a href="https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1997-04-15-me-48864-story.html">six-figure fines</a> and sending them to prison for illicitly marking walls.</p>
<p>By the end of the 1990s, as the violent crime rate in cities across the U.S. <a href="https://www.brennancenter.org/our-work/research-reports/crime-trends-1990-2016">declined</a> and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/0263775819832315">gentrification</a> increased, new residents felt they could safely move into lower cost, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev.so.13.080187.001021">“up-and-coming”</a> neighborhoods.</p>
<figure class="align-left zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/519124/original/file-20230403-22-okgs5v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A mosaic of Our Lady of Guadelupe, a virgin saint. She wears a long coral robe and blue starry hooded cape, hands clasped in prayer." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/519124/original/file-20230403-22-okgs5v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/519124/original/file-20230403-22-okgs5v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=963&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/519124/original/file-20230403-22-okgs5v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=963&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/519124/original/file-20230403-22-okgs5v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=963&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/519124/original/file-20230403-22-okgs5v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1210&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/519124/original/file-20230403-22-okgs5v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1210&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/519124/original/file-20230403-22-okgs5v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1210&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Our Lady of Guadalupe symbolizes protection for those who lack power in society.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://unsplash.com/photos/9CiOeQQ7m9Y">Grant Whitty for Unsplash.com</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Local governments turned to <a href="https://www.rutgersuniversitypress.org/police-power-and-the-production-of-racial-boundaries/9780813569758">gang injunctions</a>, a restraining order targeting alleged gang members, to help <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/0263775819832315">rid neighborhoods</a> of the remaining taggers and wall writers who were labeled <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/02/03/opinion/los-angeles-gang-database.html">gang members</a> and were painting <a href="https://doi.org/10.1215/01636545-1504930">political wall murals</a>. </p>
<p>The Guadalupe, or La Virgen, was used to signal the Chicano community’s <a href="https://www.interfaithamerica.org/los-angeles-virgin-guadalupe-street-art/">faith in God’s protection</a>, delivering them from the violence of the streets at the hands of gangs and police alike. But such murals, often done by local graffiti artists who were themselves deeply rooted in the Chicano community, were forced to make room for “street art” in the context of neighborhood change and urban redevelopment. </p>
<p>As real estate prices went up, <a href="https://boyleheightsbeat.com/la-virgen-de-guadalupe-powerful-throughout-generations/">the Guadalupe murals came down</a>, symbolizing <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/24694452.2021.1985952">local displacement</a> by gentrification. While physical displacement was being experienced firsthand by long-standing residents, the transformation of the walls in these communities symbolized a broader cultural change. By the early 2000s, politically neutral <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/02/arts/design/02fair.html">street art images</a> replaced depictions of <a href="https://www.kcet.org/shows/artbound/inclusive-public-art-and-racial-justice">social struggle</a>, <a href="https://www.themcla.org/murals/read-between-lines">Chicano/a history</a>, and <a href="https://boyleheightsbeat.com/disappearing-murals-erase-boyle-heights-history/">community life</a>.</p>
<h2>Graffiti made legit</h2>
<p>By 2011, the Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles hosted the first-ever museum survey of street art and graffiti. At this time, I was finishing my dissertation on the “<a href="https://conservancy.umn.edu/handle/11299/179789">Changing Face of Wall Space</a>,” which explored graffiti in the nearby neighborhoods of Echo Park and Silver Lake. In it, I analyzed how graffiti writers such as <a href="https://eyelost.com">Eyeone</a>, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/user/mearonehd">Mear</a> and <a href="http://www.cachickenart.com/about-cache">Cache</a> were navigating the legal, social, economic and cultural shift taking place in Los Angeles. In the midst of this struggle over wall space and aesthetics, many of my friends were invited inside to tag the walls of the <a href="https://artinthestreets.org/about">Art in the Streets</a> exhibition. </p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/519130/original/file-20230403-1249-b0f4c4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Two young people talk together next to giant black and white drawings pinned on the walls behind them." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/519130/original/file-20230403-1249-b0f4c4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/519130/original/file-20230403-1249-b0f4c4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=902&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/519130/original/file-20230403-1249-b0f4c4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=902&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/519130/original/file-20230403-1249-b0f4c4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=902&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/519130/original/file-20230403-1249-b0f4c4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1134&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/519130/original/file-20230403-1249-b0f4c4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1134&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/519130/original/file-20230403-1249-b0f4c4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1134&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">As graffiti goes mainstream, it appears to legitimize spaces where it is found – museums, galleries and up-and-coming neighborhoods.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://unsplash.com/photos/niIDjV2uSuk">Casio 1179 for Unsplash.com</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Just outside the museum gallery, the newly branded Arts District soon welcomed muralists and graffiti writers from around the world. These were the same streets where many of us had been chased, beaten and arrested by police for doing what was now fashionable and profitable. Los Angeles, like many cities in the U.S., had the <a href="https://wwnorton.com/books/Uneasy-Peace/">lowest homicide rate</a> in more than a generation. In this new context, it became more difficult to <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/1362480606065908">connect graffiti to the gangs</a>: Gang violence just wasn’t there. Graffiti had made a <a href="https://lataco.com/whitewashing-murals-graffiti">comeback</a>, arriving inside the Trojan Horse of legitimate street art.</p>
<h2>Urban blight or community history</h2>
<p>Self-described <a href="https://www.latimes.com/projects/chicano-moratorium/chicano-moratorium-catalytic-moment-la-art/">critical Chicana muralists</a>, such as <a href="http://www.judybaca.com/artist/">Judith Baca,</a> and <a href="https://www.encyclopedia.com/media/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/pachucos">pachuco</a> graffiti writers such as <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_%22Chaz%22_Boj%C3%B3rquez">Chaz Bojórquez</a>, had been painting on walls around Los Angeles as early as the 1970s. These wall artists’ styles were often maligned by city leaders, business owners and wealthy Anglos. But something changed when these inner city aesthetics became the mainstream backdrop for arts communities. </p>
<p>No longer does the writing on the walls signal blight and disorder. Rather, graffiti increasingly tells the story of urban change. It took seeing it as “safe” in the form of “street art” for people to start paying attention to its visual power.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/196995/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Stefano Bloch does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
In the last decade, some graffiti writers have moved from outlaw taggers to sought-after artists.
Stefano Bloch, Associate Professor of Geography, Development & Environment, University of Arizona
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/165425
2021-08-09T15:04:11Z
2021-08-09T15:04:11Z
Afghanistan’s ArtLords use concrete barricades as canvases to promote social change
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/414810/original/file-20210805-21-1nchy4s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=136%2C71%2C4074%2C2457&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Residents in Kabul, Afghanistan walk past artists from the ArtLords organization as they paint a mural of journalists who were killed in 2018.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(AP Photo/Massoud Hossaini) </span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Art has the power to provoke enhanced awareness of social issues that can lead to social change — not only publicly commissioned works, but graffiti-esque street art too.</p>
<p>Two of the best examples of <a href="https://humanrights.ca/exhibition/artivism">what’s known as “artivism”</a> are the sometimes whimsical, often sardonic stencilled murals of <a href="https://www.streetartbio.com/artists/banksy/">British street artist Banksy</a> and the installations created by <a href="https://www.artlords.co">Afghanistan’s ArtLords</a> on the concrete blast walls that now surround facilities commonly targeted by terrorists.</p>
<p>Established by two friends in Kabul in 2014, ArtLords in its name alone provides an ironic challenge to the warlords, drug lords and international <a href="https://groveatlantic.com/book/lords-of-poverty/">lords of poverty</a> who wield so much power in Afghanistan. </p>
<p>The ArtLords mission statement says “the organization is a grassroots movement of artists and volunteers motivated by the desire to pave the way for social transformation and behavioural change through employing the soft power of art and culture.”</p>
<p>One of ArtLords’ first installations was the <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/murals-message-afghans-paint-social-change-kabul-n428931">“We are Watching You”</a> mural of two eyes. The mural’s accompanying text states: “Corruption is not hidden from God and the peoples’ gaze.”</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/FV_CG_JbhPc?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">A segment on ArtLords on Al Jazeera.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Daringly provocative, the mural provided clear commentary on the country’s endemic corruption. In an annual perception survey conducted by the <a href="https://asiafoundation.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/2019_Afghan_Survey_Full-Report.pdf">Asia Foundation</a>, corruption has consistently been identified as a key social challenge in Afghanistan.</p>
<p>In 2019, for example, 81 per cent of respondents from all over the country cited corruption as a major social problem, <a href="https://reliefweb.int/report/afghanistan/survey-afghan-people-afghanistan-2019">with 68 per cent saying corruption had affected their daily lives</a>.</p>
<p>The ArtLords mural thus gave “visual voice” to popular sentiment, putting on notice those benefiting from widespread corruption.</p>
<h2>Brutalist transformation</h2>
<p>Over the past 15 years, there’s been a transformation of Afghanistan’s urban spaces because of the preponderance of suicide bombers. They’re using ever more deadly vehicle-borne bombs and magnetic explosive devices to launch orchestrated terrorist attacks on government ministries, embassies, Shiite mosques, shops and restaurants.</p>
<p>These facilities are now ringed <a href="https://www.hesco.com">with barricades</a> and the metres-high blast walls. Normal city streetscapes have disappeared behind these brutalist structures, with streets around ministries and embassies transformed into oppressive concrete canyons.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A man rides his bicycle walks past blast walls in Kabul." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/414821/original/file-20210805-19-1buwvor.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/414821/original/file-20210805-19-1buwvor.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/414821/original/file-20210805-19-1buwvor.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/414821/original/file-20210805-19-1buwvor.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/414821/original/file-20210805-19-1buwvor.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/414821/original/file-20210805-19-1buwvor.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/414821/original/file-20210805-19-1buwvor.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">In this 2017 photo, an Afghan man rides his bicycle walks past blast walls in Kabul, Afghanistan.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(AP Photos/Rahmat Gul)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>These blast walls serve as canvases for the ArtLords.</p>
<p>In addition to anti-corruption messages, Artlords’ visually striking street art addresses a range of socially relevant themes. Some murals commemorate activists killed in the country’s internecine conflict. Others promote public health messages, the importance of education, women’s rights, disability or the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. </p>
<p>Others, such as a Banksy-like stencil of a man pushing a wheelbarrow laden with a large red Valentine’s Day heart or a woman bearing a similar heart on her head, suggest love in the midst of chaos. A mural paying homage to a humble street sweeper bears a striking resemblance to similar tributes to our pandemic-era health-care workers. Many of the murals evoke empathy or compassion, sentiments in scarce supply in war-torn Afghanistan. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="An artist wearing a hat paints the portrait of a man on a mural." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/414812/original/file-20210805-27-s9pnde.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/414812/original/file-20210805-27-s9pnde.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=365&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/414812/original/file-20210805-27-s9pnde.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=365&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/414812/original/file-20210805-27-s9pnde.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=365&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/414812/original/file-20210805-27-s9pnde.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=459&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/414812/original/file-20210805-27-s9pnde.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=459&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/414812/original/file-20210805-27-s9pnde.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=459&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">An artist from ArtLords paints an image of AFP’s slain chief Afghanistan photographer, Shah Marai, who was killed in 2018 in a suicide bombing.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(AP Photo/Massoud Hossaini)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In addition to providing surprising bits of colour in what are otherwise drab and forbidding urban spaces, the murals promote social conversation and contribute to critical thinking.</p>
<p>It’s not unusual to see Afghan citizens standing in front of the murals talking about them and discussing current events. Although some of the works have irked the Afghan authorities — one mural was whitewashed by the National Directorate of Security — the murals and their messages have been embraced by the citizenry. The blast walls of several embassies also bear non-political ArtLords murals. </p>
<h2>Murals across Afghanistan</h2>
<p>In advance of a November 2020 donor funding conference, ArtLords was commissioned by the conference organizers to paint murals in all the country’s major cities.</p>
<p>A timelapse video of the murals’ creation captures the energy and enthusiasm of the ArtLords work. In the murals, a soldier’s Kalashnikov assault rifle is replaced by a pencil, a symbol of the possibility of a better future for the country. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A mural of a soldier holding a large pencil in place of a gun." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/414830/original/file-20210805-17-9tgyzt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/414830/original/file-20210805-17-9tgyzt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=461&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/414830/original/file-20210805-17-9tgyzt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=461&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/414830/original/file-20210805-17-9tgyzt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=461&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/414830/original/file-20210805-17-9tgyzt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=579&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/414830/original/file-20210805-17-9tgyzt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=579&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/414830/original/file-20210805-17-9tgyzt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=579&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">An Artlords mural.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">U.S. Institute of Peace</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Since its founding, ArtLords has painted more than 2,000 blast-wall murals in 19 of Afghanistan’s 34 provinces. The movement has grown to 53 employees and artists, with offices in seven Afghan provinces. </p>
<p>In addition to its blast-wall street art, ArtLords has launched an art gallery, an arts and culture magazine and a coffee shop. In July 2021, ArtLords conducted an online workshop for artists, civil society activists and human rights defenders in the South Asia region to share its experiences in reclaiming civic space and promoting social change. </p>
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<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/re6fBD-Bk_w?wmode=transparent&start=118" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">A video about Artlords by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Finland.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The government of Afghanistan also recently presented a large ArtLords-commissioned painting to the United Nations Secretary-General. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.globaltimes.cn/page/202106/1227390.shtml">“The Unseen Afghanistan”</a> is a joyous and colourful work, its paint mixed with soil from all of the country’s provinces. The human figures in the painting depict Afghanistan’s mix of ethnicities. The central figure is a representation of a child who had a leg amputated when he was eight months old after being shot in a battle between the Taliban and Afghan government forces. </p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1409590925567873026"}"></div></p>
<p><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MRmfXicrCko">A widely circulated video </a> shows him at age five happily dancing on a new prosthetic leg. The painting, to be hung in the halls of the UN Secretariat, demonstrates hope for a peaceful and similarly exuberant future for Afghanistan and its people. </p>
<p>“Protecting the Gains” was the theme of the recent meeting of the government and donor <a href="https://reliefweb.int/report/afghanistan/co-chairs-statement-joint-coordination-and-monitoring-board-jcmb-meeting">Joint Coordination Monitoring Board</a>. </p>
<p>But at the same time, a resurgent Taliban has greatly expanded areas under its control and has brought fighting to some of Afghanistan’s major cities. </p>
<p>Escalating conflict has displaced some <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/07/31/world/asia/afghanistan-migration-taliban.html">330,000 Afghans</a>, with at least 30,000 people fleeing the country each week. Rather than the hope represented by much of the Artlords work, there is fear that much of Afghanistan’s hard-won progress over the past 20 years may soon be reversed.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/165425/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Grant Curtis does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
Afghanistan’s Artlords are using art on blast walls to advocate for social change and to stand in contrast to the country’s war lords, drug lords and corruption.
Grant Curtis, PhD Candidate Political Science, Deputy Director Centre for the Study of Security and Development, Dalhousie University
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/155365
2021-03-01T19:10:26Z
2021-03-01T19:10:26Z
Street art in a white cube: Rone at Geelong Gallery marries ephemeral beauty with a proven formula
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/386876/original/file-20210301-21-fiqq5c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=17%2C26%2C5879%2C3907&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The Green Room (Omega Project) 2017 archival pigment print on 310 gsm Canson Baryta; A/P
Collection of the artist
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">© Rone</span></span></figcaption></figure><p><em>Review: RONE in Geelong, Geelong Gallery</em></p>
<p>In 2004, black-and-white posters of a woman staring into a distant horizon began appearing inexplicably throughout Melbourne. The images — of model <a href="https://www.theage.com.au/national/the-girl-in-the-tunnel-20070730-ge5go0.html">Suzanne Brenchley, taken from a fashion magazine ad</a> — were renamed <a href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/Jane%20Doe">Jane Doe</a> by <a href="https://www.r-o-n-e.com/">street artist Rone</a>, who had created them. To avoid criminal prosecution, his paste-ups were applied surreptitiously at night.</p>
<p>These works contributed to the patchwork assemblage of stickers, tags and stencils that formed Melbourne’s burgeoning street art scene at the time. Although it is synonymous with Melbourne’s inner-city cultural identity today, this was a time before Banksy’s meteoric ascendancy, so municipal authorities made no distinction between unauthorised street art and vandalism. </p>
<p>Most of these early works were erased in 2006 in an attempt to beautify Melbourne for the Commonwealth Games.</p>
<p>Following Banksy, street art was propelled from its <a href="http://www.cdh-art.com/Writing/CDH%20AMA%20Notes%20on%20the%20commodification%20of%20street%20art.pdf">counter-cultural origins into the mainstream</a> and Rone’s career trajectory followed this cultural arc. He has since painted one of <a href="http://thecityjournal.net/arts-and-culture/first-art-tram-designed-by-local-melbourne-artist/">Melbourne’s art trams</a> and <a href="http://openjournal.com.au/the-week-in-review-rone/">murals of Kylie Minogue and Cate Blanchett</a> for the NGV’s <a href="https://www.ngv.vic.gov.au/jeanpaulgaultier/">Jean Paul Gaultier</a> exhibition. Rone himself has advertised <a href="https://melbourneartcritic.wordpress.com/2014/04/24/">clothing for Uniqlo</a>.</p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/386877/original/file-20210301-15-8r45ri.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/386877/original/file-20210301-15-8r45ri.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/386877/original/file-20210301-15-8r45ri.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/386877/original/file-20210301-15-8r45ri.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/386877/original/file-20210301-15-8r45ri.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/386877/original/file-20210301-15-8r45ri.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1131&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/386877/original/file-20210301-15-8r45ri.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1131&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/386877/original/file-20210301-15-8r45ri.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1131&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Artist Rone preparing the Geelong installation.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Photographer: Tony Mott © Rone</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Last month, to underscore this inversion from subculture to peak mainstream, Rone was awarded a <a href="https://www.grants.gov.au/Ga/Show/2dce4c99-8114-44af-8270-0b456fd16531">$1.86 million RISE Arts grant</a> from the federal government. It was <a href="https://www.theage.com.au/national/street-artist-rone-scores-a-covid-grant-coup-20210202-p56yvt.html">met with surprise</a>: grants of this size usually go to theatre companies or production houses, rather than individual artists (although Rone will employ other practitioners as part of it). </p>
<p><a href="https://www.geelonggallery.org.au/rone">Rone’s latest exhibition</a> at Geelong Gallery in his home city is a comprehensive survey of his work over two decades, tracing the evolution of his Jane Doe motif into states of greater realism, painterly technical proficiency and larger scale murals. </p>
<p>It is styled in decaying vintage opulence, like an ethereal moment in time. There are murals painted directly onto the walls of the gallery but the majority of the exhibition features studio works on varied surfaces, under framed glass: early stencils on canvas, portraits on poster advertising (styled to look torn and weathered) and poster-sized photographs of murals in abandoned, dilapidated buildings.</p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/386879/original/file-20210301-13-1mpbum3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/386879/original/file-20210301-13-1mpbum3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/386879/original/file-20210301-13-1mpbum3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/386879/original/file-20210301-13-1mpbum3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/386879/original/file-20210301-13-1mpbum3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/386879/original/file-20210301-13-1mpbum3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1131&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/386879/original/file-20210301-13-1mpbum3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1131&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/386879/original/file-20210301-13-1mpbum3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1131&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Opulent decay in Rone’s Geelong installation (2021). © Rone.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Photographer: Tony Mott/Geelong Gallery</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>All street art is ephemeral, but here Rone exaggerates transience in the staging and framing of the work. The smooth porcelain skin of Rone’s “muses” juxtaposed against flaking, crumbling walls provides an arresting contrast of textures. The rooms are <a href="https://www.theestablishmentstudios.com.au/contact">styled by Carly Spooner</a>, mixing decadence and disintegration.</p>
<p>The exhibition is accompanied by a musical score by <a href="https://www.nickbatterham.com/about#:%7E:text=Nick%20Batterham%20is%20a%20musician,major%20labels%20and%20extensive%20touring.">composer Nick Batterham</a>. Highly evocative, the classical arrangement enhances a haunting atmosphere and sense of loss; the music was originally written in response to the 2019-20 Black Summer bushfires.</p>
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<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/latest-arts-windfalls-show-money-isnt-enough-we-need-transparency-154725">Latest arts windfalls show money isn't enough. We need transparency</a>
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<h2>Empty show</h2>
<p>Before Banksy’s success, it was difficult for street artists to exhibit in established galleries. This led to the innovation of the “Empty Show”: street artists would install their works in an abandoned space and then hold unauthorised exhibition openings.</p>
<p>Rone has previously exhibited in non-traditional spaces: the derelict Lyric Theatre in Fitzroy (for <a href="https://www.r-o-n-e.com/empty-project">Empty Project</a>) and at Burnham Beeches, a dilapidated Art Deco mansion (for <a href="https://www.r-o-n-e.com/empire">Empire</a>). The art functions as an invitation to explore these spaces, which would otherwise be accessible only to trespassers. </p>
<p>It stimulates an imagined history of the buildings and invites speculation about the previous occupants. The spaces also fit with Rone’s apparent intention to use environmental decay as a material resource in his work.</p>
<p>The white cube of a gallery, however, is designed to remove everything else from view, leaving only the artwork for consideration. It’s perfectly climate-controlled to preserve the artworks inside. </p>
<p>So, in Rone’s latest exhibition, the themes of moribundity, transience and imagined historical echoes sit awkwardly in a traditional gallery space: broken bricks and detritus laid out carefully and precisely to mimic an abandoned building; a temporary artifice wall made with crumbled plaster. Translating his work into an art gallery has faded some of the verisimilitude (or the story world’s appearance of truth) and charm of previous exhibitions.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/386878/original/file-20210301-17-lsslw2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/386878/original/file-20210301-17-lsslw2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/386878/original/file-20210301-17-lsslw2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=397&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/386878/original/file-20210301-17-lsslw2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=397&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/386878/original/file-20210301-17-lsslw2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=397&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/386878/original/file-20210301-17-lsslw2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=499&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/386878/original/file-20210301-17-lsslw2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=499&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/386878/original/file-20210301-17-lsslw2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=499&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">I’ve seen fire and I’ve seen rain (2016) from Rone’s Empty series.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">© Rone/Geelong Gallery</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/getting-to-the-street-art-of-a-year-like-no-other-149923">Getting to the (street) art of a year like no other</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Pretty girls</h2>
<p>The accompanying exhibition literature outlines the intended reading of the works: “beauty and decay”. But this immediately prompts a counter-reading: What is being presented as “beautiful”? What assumptions are encoded into the visual representation?</p>
<p>Many of the paintings conflate beauty with specific attributes: youth, Caucasian in appearance, female, thin-bodied, full-lipped, big-eyed. With few exceptions, there’s a very specific and narrow type of woman on display: the <a href="https://melbourneartcritic.wordpress.com/2013/02/23/sexy-girls-girls-girls/">pretty girl motif</a> via <a href="https://theconversation.com/explainer-what-does-the-male-gaze-mean-and-what-about-a-female-gaze-52486">the male gaze</a>. This motif can be found throughout popular culture: advertising, fashion and cosmetics, social media, pornography and the industry of celebrity.</p>
<p>Rather than trying to find beauty in new ways; these works are reproducing the most conventional notions of beauty to an established formula.</p>
<p>That doesn’t make the work necessarily “bad” (although some could argue it’s pernicious), but it does make the images derivative (of this mainstream motif).</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/gallerysowhite-a-digital-exhibition-exposing-racism-in-contemporary-art-spaces-153920">#GallerySoWhite: a digital exhibition exposing racism in contemporary art spaces</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Divergent agendas</h2>
<p>In the exhibition press release, the mayor of Geelong, Martin Cutter, is quoted as saying: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>This exclusive Geelong Gallery exhibition is expected to attract over 25,000 people to the region and contribute approximately $3 million to the local economy. </p>
</blockquote>
<p>His high hopes for the show are well-placed. Deputy gallery director Penny Whitehead explained at the launch the exhibition has pre-sold 5,000 tickets, over three times the pre-sales of the touring Archibald Prize at the gallery.</p>
<p>Rone’s use of a proven formula (some would say cliché) is what makes it a favoured project for a risk-averse municipal body, hoping to revitalise a local tourism economy. The motif is familiar to a broad audience. No one feels challenged or lost. It will attract a large crowd.</p>
<p>This prompts an interesting discussion about the balance major public galleries must strike between populism and fostering new art that can be difficult or unfamiliar by virtue of its originality. </p>
<p>Attracting broader audiences is of course good, providing it’s not training them to engage only in superficial experiences. So if you attend the Rone Exhibition, the Geelong Gallery also has an impressive permanent collection of Australian art worth exploring. There are major works by Arthur Streeton and Frederick McCubbin, but I got lost in Charles Blackman’s painting of <a href="https://www.geelonggallery.org.au/scenic-victoria/key-works-2295/charles-blackman">Joy Hester’s house</a> .</p>
<p><em><a href="https://www.geelonggallery.org.au/rone">RONE in Geelong</a>, is at Geelong Gallery to 16 May.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/155365/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Chris Honig does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
Street artist Rone’s return to his home town gallery is sure to draw crowds — but his definition of ‘beauty’ is conventional and narrow.
Chris Honig, Lecturer, The University of Melbourne
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/151683
2021-02-08T13:15:47Z
2021-02-08T13:15:47Z
Dissecting stories about garbage in popular culture. Why they matter
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/381676/original/file-20210201-13-172woj2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Portrait of waste recycler Liberia Mapesmoawe in South Africa.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Jonathan Torgovnik/Getty Images</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Rubbish has become an integral part of everyday life. Think about it. How many things did you throw away today? And this week? In the last year? </p>
<p>Some study rubbish <a href="https://theconversation.com/medical-waste-offers-insights-into-south-africas-use-of-pharmaceuticals-130419">directly</a> – seeing it as contemporary <a href="https://news.arizona.edu/story/william-l-rathje-1945-2012">archaeological evidence</a> for society. But how people talk about rubbish through media platforms also deserves attention. This is because it’s increasingly relevant to the task of solving the environmental problems facing humanity. </p>
<p>A range of environmental issues have been capturing attention in the media recently. Many of these are linked quite directly with consumer culture, for example, campaigns to ban <a href="https://earth.org/data_visualization/the-anti-plastic-straw-phenomenon/">plastic straws</a> and concern with how the <a href="https://science.sciencemag.org/content/369/6509/1314">COVID-19 pandemic</a> has caused <a href="https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2020/06/ppe-masks-gloves-coronavirus-ocean-pollution/">new forms</a> of littering of single-use masks and gloves.</p>
<p>In my new <a href="https://www.sunypress.edu/p-6937-garbage-in-popular-culture.aspx">book</a> <em>Garbage in Popular Culture</em> I explore three key ways in which garbage narratives come into pop culture. The first is linked to activism, the second to hedonism and luxury, and the third to anxieties about the environment.</p>
<h2>Activism</h2>
<p>The first theme that I explore is activism around environmental issues related to waste.</p>
<p>The aphorism “reduce, reuse, recycle” is well known. Some individuals – notably the more well off – put much effort into reducing waste. For example, New York social media heroine, <a href="https://www.instagram.com/trashisfortossers/">Lauren Singer</a>, known as “Zero Trash Girl”, made a media project and career out of living her consumer lifestyle in such a way as to not produce any trash. She <a href="https://www.dw.com/en/this-woman-hasnt-produced-any-trash-in-three-years/a-18922713">famously</a> produced only a glass jar’s worth in four years. </p>
<p>Others create fine art out of rubbish. South African street artist <a href="https://www.r1r1r1.net">r1</a> spearheaded the creation of collaborative public installation called <em><a href="https://www.brandsouthafrica.com/people-culture/arts-culture/ithemba-tower-troyeville">iThemba Tower</a></em>, which wrapped a defunct communications tower in Johannesburg with plastic bottles, filled with messages to the future. His re-use of rubbish turned it into a medium of communication. </p>
<figure>
<iframe src="https://player.vimeo.com/video/226310331" width="500" height="281" frameborder="0" webkitallowfullscreen="" mozallowfullscreen="" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">Artist r1 created a tower of plastic waste with messages of hope.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Recycling gets a lot of attention. But it is a classed, and often gendered, occupation. Consider the labour of a cooperative of <a href="https://swachcoop.com">women recyclers</a> based in Pune, India, and the self-organising work of the <a href="https://www.facebook.com/africanreclaimers/">African Reclaimers Organisation</a> in Brixton, Johannesburg. </p>
<h2>Hedonism</h2>
<p>The second theme I explore is how hedonistic consumption by wealthy consumers is a key source of rubbish. Media coverage of the post-party landscapes of two entertainments festivals – <a href="https://www.glastonburyfestivals.co.uk">Glastonbury Festival</a> in the UK and <a href="https://www.afrikaburn.com">Afrika Burn</a> in South Africa – reveals two quite different attitudes towards the moral responsibilities linked to trash. </p>
<p>Glastonbury, although trying to <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/music/2019/jul/05/glastonbury-festival-huge-improvement-in-clean-up-operation">change</a> this, used to be known for the appalling litter-scapes left behind by revellers. Afrika Burn attempts to inculcate a culture of radical <a href="https://www.afrikaburn.com/binnekringblog/how-to-manage-your-camp-waste">responsibility</a> for party-goers to move their trash off site. </p>
<p>In relation to tourism, media narratives about trash on beaches on <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-43312464">tropical islands</a> reveal how a clinical and persistent removal of trash is necessary to maintain the advertised fantasy of an idyll untouched by waste. </p>
<p>Together, these studies show how, most often, it is the poor who are expected to live uncomplainingly alongside garbage, while the rich expect it to be cleaned away for them.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/381694/original/file-20210201-17-1waft2v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A woman concentrates as she works on a brightly coloured giraffe curio, constructed in layers of plastic." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/381694/original/file-20210201-17-1waft2v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/381694/original/file-20210201-17-1waft2v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=352&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/381694/original/file-20210201-17-1waft2v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=352&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/381694/original/file-20210201-17-1waft2v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=352&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/381694/original/file-20210201-17-1waft2v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=442&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/381694/original/file-20210201-17-1waft2v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=442&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/381694/original/file-20210201-17-1waft2v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=442&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Helen Kamau washes a toy animal made from recycled flip-flops in Nairobi, Kenya.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">SIMON MAINA/AFP via Getty Image</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Angst</h2>
<p>Media narratives about massive environmental disasters lead us into the realm of collective existential angst, the third theme in the book. The age of the <a href="https://www.britannica.com/science/Anthropocene-Epoch">Anthropocene</a>, that is, the epoch in which human activity has radically altered the make up of the planet and climate, has seen the devastation of natural environments through fossil-fuel based waste: specifically, oil and plastic. </p>
<p>A recent incident in <a href="https://theconversation.com/mauritius-must-protect-vulnerable-coastal-communities-from-the-effects-of-the-oil-spill-145411">Mauritius</a> highlighted the devastation caused by oil spills. The largest <a href="https://www.britannica.com/event/Deepwater-Horizon-oil-spill">spill</a> ever at Deepwater Horizon became the subject of many film and TV narratives. These allow us to consider how it’s impact was publicly processed in different ways.</p>
<p>In many visual narratives of huge oil spills and so-called “<a href="https://stories.visualeyed.com/garbage-island/">plastic islands</a>” the scale of the devastation that the human race has created is presented as unfathomable, almost beyond representation. Instead of offering a coherent place from which we can consider and act, this “new” sublime is a terrifying edge that we ourselves have created. We know that there might be no coming back from the abyss of climate change and a planet now carrying more man-made <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-020-3010-5">substances</a> than biological life. </p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/374861/original/file-20201214-21-1pm2hsp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A book cover for 'Garbage in Popular Culture' that features a photograph of a sculpture of a bird, made from colourful plastic waste, taken in an urban setting." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/374861/original/file-20201214-21-1pm2hsp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/374861/original/file-20201214-21-1pm2hsp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=955&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/374861/original/file-20201214-21-1pm2hsp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=955&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/374861/original/file-20201214-21-1pm2hsp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=955&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/374861/original/file-20201214-21-1pm2hsp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1200&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/374861/original/file-20201214-21-1pm2hsp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1200&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/374861/original/file-20201214-21-1pm2hsp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1200&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">SUNY Press</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>This creates significant <a href="https://time.com/5735388/climate-change-eco-anxiety/">collective distress</a> about our future and that of our planet.</p>
<p>Rubbish is the most public of all objects. Media narratives can invite us to respond to it with with hope or it can lead us towards being paralysed by dismay. </p>
<p>Media discourses and communicative forms have the potential to contribute positively to new shared ideas (and perhaps behaviours) about rubbish. </p>
<p><em>The new <a href="https://www.sunypress.edu/p-6937-garbage-in-popular-culture.aspx">book</a> Garbage in Popular Culture: Consumption and the Aesthetics of Waste is available from SUNY Press.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/151683/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Mehita Iqani receives funding from the South African National Research Foundation. </span></em></p>
From oil disasters in Mauritius to street artists in South Africa, the story of rubbish in the media helps shape popular culture and environmental change.
Mehita Iqani, Professor in Media Studies, University of the Witwatersrand
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/149923
2020-12-28T21:42:11Z
2020-12-28T21:42:11Z
Getting to the (street) art of a year like no other
<p>If there’s one thing everyone seems to agree on, it’s that 2020 was a nightmare of a year. This was the year of political crisis: not just one, but several, one after another. </p>
<p>Street artists have always responded to the political issues of the day by writing, painting and sticking posters on walls. What kind of street art could be seen on walls in 2020? </p>
<p>In the early months of 2020, Australia’s political street art was dominated by the <a href="https://www.aph.gov.au/About_Parliament/Parliamentary_Departments/Parliamentary_Library/pubs/rp/rp1920/Quick_Guides/AustralianBushfires">bushfires that incinerated</a> over 17 million hectares of land, destroyed 3,094 homes, and killed 34 people and over a billion animals. </p>
<p>Shocked by the severity and extent of the fires, many people, including artists, wondered whether this was no ordinary fire season. <a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/CIxKn1qBKj8/">Posters quickly appeared</a> in Fitzroy, simple sheets of paper, each with two news photos. One showed a child in a boat fleeing the fires in Mallacoota on New Year’s Day; in another, firefighters ran through a torrent of burning embers. Between the two images, block capitals stated: “THIS IS CLIMATE CHANGE”. </p>
<p>A few weeks later, climate anxiety continued to motivate street artists: during the Australian Open tennis tournament, a “street sculpture” was glued to a windowsill in Melbourne’s Hosier Lane. Initially looking like a large blob of lime-green ice-cream, a closer look revealed it to be a melting tennis ball, emblazoned with the words #ClimateCrisis. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/374661/original/file-20201214-22-1ti321k.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/374661/original/file-20201214-22-1ti321k.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/374661/original/file-20201214-22-1ti321k.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/374661/original/file-20201214-22-1ti321k.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/374661/original/file-20201214-22-1ti321k.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/374661/original/file-20201214-22-1ti321k.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/374661/original/file-20201214-22-1ti321k.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A melting tennis ball appeared in Melbourne’s Hosier Lane, bearing the hashtag #Climatecrisis.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://melbourneartcritic.wordpress.com/2020/05/14/street-art-sculpture-10/">Black Mark Melbourne Art & Culture Critic</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Soon after the bushfires, the spread of a new coronavirus led to the declaration of a global pandemic. Lockdowns and states of emergency were implemented in numerous countries from March onwards. Despite stay-at-home orders, graffiti and street art have appeared on walls in cities all over the world.</p>
<p>Much of this was about the pandemic itself. During Melbourne’s first lockdown from March to early June, posters satirised the hoarding of toilet paper or showed <a href="https://knowyourmeme.com/photos/1896111-graffiti">Bart Simpson saying “ay corona”</a>. Some artists simply wrote “COVID-19” as if it was a graffiti tag, evoking the <a href="https://www.sprayplanet.com/blogs/news/a-history-of-graffiti-the-60s-and-70s">tag names of decades gone by</a> in New York and other American cities. </p>
<p>After the second wave of coronavirus infections hit Victoria in July, Melbourne’s lockdown intensified. Street art reflected the divided views expressed in media and political debates about public health. An artist <a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/CHPGuZtn0qa/">added the words</a> “MOCKING SCIENCE” to a “STOP” sign, perhaps as a riposte to COVID-deniers or anti-mask campaigners. Others wrote on bridges over freeways “the government lies” and “it’s just a flu”.</p>
<p>As this second lockdown went on, artists’ activities became more elaborate and more emotional. In South Melbourne, one mural revised Michelangelo’s The Creation of Adam, which shows God giving life to Adam and is famed for its almost-touching fingers. This rendition placed the two figures far apart and put the words “physical distancing” between them.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/374673/original/file-20201214-14-13q483k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/374673/original/file-20201214-14-13q483k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/374673/original/file-20201214-14-13q483k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/374673/original/file-20201214-14-13q483k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/374673/original/file-20201214-14-13q483k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/374673/original/file-20201214-14-13q483k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/374673/original/file-20201214-14-13q483k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">This South Melbourne mural turned iconic art into a message about physical distancing under COVID-19.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Instagram/streetart_melbourne</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Separation from friends and family members generated extensive anxiety and sadness in lockdown. Posters in Fitzroy exhorted us to “<a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/CIxLGxtB39R/">Be kind. Let’s look out for one another</a>” and reminded us that “<a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/CIxMcBDB-gC/">kindness is contagious too</a>”. In Brunswick, one artist created posters evoking the semi-abstract figures of Matisse, with two people embracing, surrounded by the words “together soon enough”. Frequently, individuals simply condensed their emotions into two words, writing “<a href="https://www.facebook.com/bestofmelbgraf/photos/d41d8cd9/2623498887753530/">fuck corona</a>”.</p>
<p>As Melbourne’s harsh second lockdown ended, well-known artist Lushsux painted a mural of Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews, posting a photograph on Instagram accompanied by a voice-over criticising Andrews for “the longest and most severe lockdown probably in the entire world”. </p>
<h2>Black Lives Matter</h2>
<p>The killing of George Floyd by a police officer in Minneapolis on May 26 led to widespread unrest in <a href="https://news.artnet.com/art-world/street-art-protest-george-floyd-death-1875156">America, Australia and around the world</a>. Artists both protested and memorialised his death. Murals, usually showing Floyd’s face and often including phrases such as “Say his name” and “I can’t breathe”, appeared in dozens of cities, including Barcelona, New York, London, Berlin, Los Angeles, Binnish in Syria, and in Minneapolis itself.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/374701/original/file-20201214-15-2ai354.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/374701/original/file-20201214-15-2ai354.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/374701/original/file-20201214-15-2ai354.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/374701/original/file-20201214-15-2ai354.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/374701/original/file-20201214-15-2ai354.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/374701/original/file-20201214-15-2ai354.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/374701/original/file-20201214-15-2ai354.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The Black Lives Matter protests gave rise to much new street art in Australia, just as the arrival of the coronavirus pandemic had done.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">James Ross/AAP</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In Melbourne, posters proclaiming “Cops are not our friends” and the spray-painted slogan “<a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/CIxMHpph6ez/">NO JUSTICE NO PEACE</a>” appeared in Hosier Lane, as the same messages sprung up in London and New York. Black Lives Matter protests were held in several Australian cities. </p>
<p>Artists contributed temporary and more long-lasting interventions. Pieces of cardboard were left propped up against trees in the Exhibition Gardens in Melbourne, stating “432 Deaths in Custody” and “Justice for Tanya Day”. On the outside wall of the Tote Hotel in Collingwood, Melbourne, <a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/CIxL7QUhmN7/">someone had written</a> “END ABORIGINAL DEATHS IN CUSTODY” in huge white capital letters.</p>
<p>Although much street art is anonymous, some makers sign their street artworks. During 2020, two artists stood out for their creation of highly political artworks. </p>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/374702/original/file-20201214-15-3dl4h4.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/374702/original/file-20201214-15-3dl4h4.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=898&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/374702/original/file-20201214-15-3dl4h4.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=898&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/374702/original/file-20201214-15-3dl4h4.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=898&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/374702/original/file-20201214-15-3dl4h4.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1128&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/374702/original/file-20201214-15-3dl4h4.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1128&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/374702/original/file-20201214-15-3dl4h4.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1128&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Artist Scott Marsh’s depiction of Scott Morrison, who was widely criticised for being on holiday in Hawaii while bushfires raged in Australia.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">scottmarsh.com.au</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In Sydney, having painted Prime Minister Scott Morrison on holidays while bushfires blazed in Australia in December 2019, Scott Marsh continued to paint murals that pressed buttons on hot topics throughout 2020. He followed up his Morrison-in-Hawaii mural with one of climate deniers and, in June, a mural in Redfern of a burning police van, which <a href="https://www.sbs.com.au/news/the-feed/artist-claims-nsw-police-behind-request-to-have-his-mural-of-a-burning-police-car-painted-over">was removed</a> within 24 hours of it being completed.</p>
<p>As US President Donald Trump protested that the election outcome in November was based on fake results, Marsh took inspiration from CNN anchor Anderson Cooper’s description of Trump as a turtle flailing on its back in the sun. Marsh painted this as a cartoonish mural on the wall of a Newtown pub. (Marsh’s website is also selling T-shirts of Trump as a turtle.)</p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1325650648994492416"}"></div></p>
<p>As 2020 came toward an end, with everyone hoping for respite from the crises that had dominated their lives, Melbourne artist <a href="http://julieshiels.com.au/the-grandmasters/">Julie Shiels</a> created an art installation in the streets of Fitzroy that seeks to keep politics in the minds of the public. </p>
<p>The Grandmasters is a series of paste-ups featuring famous artworks altered to include the heads of Australian politicians. From their mouths, speech bubbles emit comments made by them in 2020. The series includes 12 separate works, pasted along a hoarding at a construction site.</p>
<p>It features federal government ministers such as Alan Tudge and Josh Frydenberg, former prime minister Tony Abbott and Scott Morrison. Each is featured in an artwork whose scenario relates to the politician’s role. When juxtaposed with the speech-bubble quotations, the painting’s titles provide excoriating political critique.</p>
<p>Frydenberg features in Caravaggio’s The Cardsharps; Morrison is shown in Quentin Massys’s work, The Money Changer and His Wife, saying: “<a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/mar/08/scott-morrison-wants-women-to-rise-but-not-solely-at-expense-of-others">We don’t want to see women rise only on the basis of others doing worse</a>.” Morrison’s mouth is open and he stares directly at the spectator, while the eponymous wife stares resignedly downwards. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/374705/original/file-20201214-17-wi4kbh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/374705/original/file-20201214-17-wi4kbh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=565&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/374705/original/file-20201214-17-wi4kbh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=565&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/374705/original/file-20201214-17-wi4kbh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=565&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/374705/original/file-20201214-17-wi4kbh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=710&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/374705/original/file-20201214-17-wi4kbh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=710&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/374705/original/file-20201214-17-wi4kbh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=710&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Julie Shiels’s interpretation of Quentin Massys’s The Money Changer and His Wife.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://julieshiels.com.au/the-grandmasters/">Julie Shiels</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The only non-Australian politician featured is Donald Trump, shown spliced into Rembrandt’s The Anatomy Lesson saying: “Don’t be afraid of COVID. Don’t let it rule your life.” </p>
<p>And, as if to keep our minds on the issue that began the disasters of 2020, Shiels includes a reworked Raft of the Medusa by Gericault with Abbott sitting amid dead and dying refugees on a sinking raft, saying: “Climate change is crap.” </p>
<p>Despite the seemingly endless series of disasters in 2020, we can take some comfort and inspiration from the ways in which so many artists expressed their views on the walls and in the streets of Australia.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/149923/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Alison Young received funding from the Australian Research Council in 2008-2010 and 2012-2014 to research street art. </span></em></p>
From coronavirus to climate change and the Black Lives Matter movement, street artists expressed their views on the walls and in the parks and laneways of Australia in 2020.
Alison Young, Francine V. McNiff Professor of Criminology, The University of Melbourne
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/132000
2020-07-08T19:46:46Z
2020-07-08T19:46:46Z
Yes, street art is on public display — but that doesn’t mean we should share it without credit
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/344976/original/file-20200701-54156-1xnle18.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C98%2C5467%2C2880&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Xoë Hall</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>When Wellington mural artist Xoë Hall discovered <a href="https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/406415/artist-xoe-hall-outraged-over-work-featured-on-calendar-s-cover">her work on a calendar</a>, she hadn’t been contacted by anybody, let alone credited or paid for it. </p>
<p>This wasn’t the first time. Her art often appears on T-shirts and postcards without permission. This is because Hall is a street artist — and most people think street art is in the public domain, to be freely photographed, shared and republished. They’re wrong.</p>
<p>Street artists make a difference to the character of our cities and often use their art to raise social issues. But with a few high-profile exceptions, most don’t make much money. </p>
<p><div data-react-class="InstagramEmbed" data-react-props="{"url":"https://www.instagram.com/p/B_2o3A5JJ3O","accessToken":"127105130696839|b4b75090c9688d81dfd245afe6052f20"}"></div></p>
<p>Seeing street artists’ work ripped off, particularly by agencies with big photography budgets, is common. But there are things artists can do to protect their work from unauthorised use.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/street-art-personal-creations-get-political-with-public-messaging-115945">Street art: Personal creations get political with public messaging</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Street art and copyright</h2>
<p>Under <a href="http://www.legislation.govt.nz/act/public/1994/0143/latest/DLM345921.html">New Zealand law</a>, all original artworks are copyrighted automatically from the moment they’re created. Artists don’t need to register them or put a copyright symbol on them. </p>
<p>This gives two sorts of legal protection: legal rights and moral rights. </p>
<p>Moral rights mean the artist is identified as the author, and the work cannot be used in a derogatory way which could harm their reputation. Legal rights describe the exclusive right to make a copy of, communicate, or adapt the artwork. </p>
<p>To photograph and share an original artwork legally, you need to get the permission of the copyright owner and credit the artist. A common misconception is that copyright law only kicks in if you’re making money from using an artwork – but copying is copying. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/melbournes-love-hate-relationship-with-being-australias-street-art-capital-78177">Melbourne's love-hate relationship with being Australia's 'street art capital'</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/346218/original/file-20200707-22-ug4pkh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/346218/original/file-20200707-22-ug4pkh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=909&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/346218/original/file-20200707-22-ug4pkh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=909&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/346218/original/file-20200707-22-ug4pkh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=909&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/346218/original/file-20200707-22-ug4pkh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1142&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/346218/original/file-20200707-22-ug4pkh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1142&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/346218/original/file-20200707-22-ug4pkh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1142&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Xoë Hall</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Another misconception is that work in a public space isn’t copyrighted. New Zealand’s Copyright Act (1994) <a href="http://www.legislation.govt.nz/act/public/1994/0143/latest/DLM346215.html">exempts some works like sculptures</a> permanently installed in a public space, but protects “<a href="http://www.legislation.govt.nz/act/public/1994/0143/latest/DLM345639.htm">graphic works</a>”, which include murals and other street art. Copies (photos) of those works need the permission of the copyright owner.</p>
<p>But many people aren’t aware of this. This includes tourists sharing holiday snaps on social media; marketing firms using street murals as a backdrop to advertising campaigns; building owners letting artists use their walls; city councils commissioning the art; and often even the artists themselves.</p>
<p>A test: would you carry a camera and tripod into an art gallery and photograph paintings to make a set of postcards? If this scenario gives you an ethical twinge, you should feel the same when photographing street art. </p>
<p>In most cases, casual photography is not a problem. Street artists usually don’t mind people celebrating their work by sharing photographs of it, especially if they’re credited. But when street art is used to sell a product or push a message, that’s a different story. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/346219/original/file-20200707-194427-2uafgh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/346219/original/file-20200707-194427-2uafgh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=429&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/346219/original/file-20200707-194427-2uafgh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=429&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/346219/original/file-20200707-194427-2uafgh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=429&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/346219/original/file-20200707-194427-2uafgh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=539&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/346219/original/file-20200707-194427-2uafgh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=539&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/346219/original/file-20200707-194427-2uafgh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=539&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Brazilian street artist Eduardo Kobra’s mural in a Chicago park features the late photographer Vivian Maier. But since Kobra probably owns the copyright, the photo was almost certainly taken and shared without permission.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Matthew T Rader/Unsplash</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>How artists can protect themselves</h2>
<p>One complication is figuring out who owns the copyright in an artwork, even one that has been signed. A lot of street art is commissioned, and under New Zealand law, copyright rests in the person who commissioned the work. Either party can put a clause in the contract assigning copyright back to the artist. The only problem: most street art is arranged with a handshake, not a contract.</p>
<p>And what exactly “commissioning” means can be murky. If the artist was paid, it’s obviously a commission, but what if they were paid in materials, or had their airfare or accommodation reimbursed, or were shouted a meal or beers? </p>
<p>Some street art festivals don’t pay the artists but cover their expenses. Do the artist know that by accepting they may be handing over their copyright to the organisers?</p>
<p>For their own protection, we think street artists shouldn’t do any work, paid or unpaid, without a contract. Ideally they should retain both their legal and moral rights to the work and get it in writing.</p>
<p>We also strongly recommend artists paint a copyright symbol and a date on the artwork along with their name. This makes it clear to photographers whom they need to credit and ask permission to reuse. If there’s a copyright owner who’s not the artist, add their name too. </p>
<p><div data-react-class="InstagramEmbed" data-react-props="{"url":"https://www.instagram.com/p/B-ACb_4lMCf","accessToken":"127105130696839|b4b75090c9688d81dfd245afe6052f20"}"></div></p>
<p>The copyright owner might want to specify that taking photos for noncommercial use is permitted. The easiest way to do this is with a Creative Commons licence. The appropriate licence is <a href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/">Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial</a>, which just involves painting “CC BY-NC” somewhere on the work, near the copyright symbol. This is an extra reminder to advertisers and marketers that they need to ask permission, and gives the copyright owner some comeback in cases of a flagrant breach. </p>
<p>We hope artists will feel motivated to organise and demand legal protection in their contracts, stop companies from selling unauthorised copies of their work, and even send an invoice to the worst offenders. And we should all credit them for what they do and respect their copyrights.</p>
<p><em>Many thanks to Tom Huthwaite for legal advice, which this article is not. Xoë and Tom have set up a website, <a href="https://www.badexposure.co.nz">Bad Exposure</a>, to educate street artists about copyright.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/132000/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
Would you photograph paintings in an art gallery to make a set of postcards? If this scenario give you an ethical twinge, you should feel the same when photographing street art.
Mike Dickison, Research Information Advisor, Massey University
Bruce White, Copyright and Open Access Advisor, Massey University
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/140580
2020-06-12T12:13:57Z
2020-06-12T12:13:57Z
How DC Mayor Bowser used graffiti to protect public space
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/341319/original/file-20200611-80742-1wk1a6v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Volunteers helped city workers paint 'Black Lives Matter' on the street near the White House.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/people-walk-down-16th-street-after-volunteers-with-news-photo/1246562075?adppopup=true">Tasos Katopodis/Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>When President Donald Trump sent heavily armed federal law enforcement officers and <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/04/us/politics/unidentified-police-protests.html">unidentified officers in riot gear</a> into Washington, D.C. during the height of protests recently, Mayor Muriel E. Bowser responded by painting “BLACK LIVES MATTER” directly on the street leading to the White House.</p>
<p>While many spoke of it as a daring political act, <a href="https://stamps.umich.edu/people/detail/rebekah_modrak">for artists like me</a>, it was also an act of urban intervention, an artistic act intended to transform an existing structure or institution, that reclaimed public space back for the public. And she accomplished this with little physical matter at all. </p>
<p>Her action – expressing dissent by marking an oppressive environment – references graffiti, which has been called the <a href="https://thepodcollective.wordpress.com/2010/05/17/your-heart-is-your-greatest-possession-don%e2%80%99t-let-it-get-taken-from-you/">“language of the ignored</a>.” </p>
<p>Art scholars note that most types of graffiti are meant to claim or reclaim territory by those who are systematically excluded. “Writers” often work quickly and at night, when they are less likely to be seen and arrested for painting on others’ property without consent. </p>
<p>Bowser’s action would likely be considered vandalism if not for the fact that it was carried out by the city’s <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/politics-news/d-c-mayor-bowser-has-black-lives-matter-painted-street-n1225746">Department of Public Works, using city funds</a>. She wielded municipal services as <a href="https://news.artnet.com/art-world/mayor-of-washington-paint-black-lives-matter-white-house-1880334">artistic tools to condemn another state-sanctioned action</a>, the violence perpetrated against Black people. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/341318/original/file-20200611-80742-6i0s38.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/341318/original/file-20200611-80742-6i0s38.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/341318/original/file-20200611-80742-6i0s38.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/341318/original/file-20200611-80742-6i0s38.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/341318/original/file-20200611-80742-6i0s38.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/341318/original/file-20200611-80742-6i0s38.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/341318/original/file-20200611-80742-6i0s38.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Muriel Bowser attended a press conference about COVID-19.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/washington-dc-mayor-muriel-bowser-attends-a-press-news-photo/1248816549?adppopup=true">Win McNamee/Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Dissent by night</h2>
<p>With a few thin layers of paint, the city now loudly and clearly proclaims to assembling protesters, the public and Trump’s official helicopter lifting off from the White House that BLACK LIVES MATTER, presenting that message in the voice of civil authority: “safety color” yellow.</p>
<p>Bowser is the public face of the work. Acting Deputy Mayor John Falcicchio said, in an email to me that explained how the work evolved, that Bowser was inspired to “make a statement at the site where peaceful protestors were attacked to create a photo op on Monday, June 1, 2020.” The “photo op” was the destination of Trump’s walk from the White House, across Lafayette Square, <a href="https://www.npr.org/2020/06/03/868779265/trump-defends-symbolism-of-photo-op-at-st-johns-church">to a nearby church</a> damaged during protests, where he was photographed holding up a Bible.</p>
<p>The idea took form during a brainstorming session with eight artists, Falciccio said, brought together by the Department of Public Works on Thursday, June 4, and who were assigned the job of creating a design to assure protesters of their safety. </p>
<p>The artists and DPW staff began measuring and sketching the letters under cover of darkness at 3 a.m., using the night as a constructive opportunity at a time when cities normally view darkness with anxiety and, in recent weeks, have imposed curfews. </p>
<p>The words BLACK LIVES MATTER emerged from this nocturnal culture. The text was only partially expressed in the early morning light at 6:30 a.m. when onlookers came upon the sketched outlines – the <a href="https://www.graffiti.org/faq/graffiti.glossary.html">“bubble letters” of graffiti terminology</a> – and pitched in to complete the letters.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/341322/original/file-20200611-80762-v482a2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/341322/original/file-20200611-80762-v482a2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/341322/original/file-20200611-80762-v482a2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/341322/original/file-20200611-80762-v482a2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/341322/original/file-20200611-80762-v482a2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/341322/original/file-20200611-80762-v482a2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/341322/original/file-20200611-80762-v482a2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Bowser was inspired to do something after Trump’s photo op at St. John’s Church.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/president-donald-trump-holds-up-a-bible-outside-of-st-johns-news-photo/1216826630?adppopup=true">BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI/AFP</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Bowser boxes with shadows</h2>
<p>Ownership of this collective and democratic work is <a href="https://www.curbed.com/2020/6/5/21281759/black-lives-matter-dc-muriel-bowser-street-paint">credited to Bowser</a>, an African American woman and an elected official whom President Trump <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/reuters/2020/06/06/us/06reuters-usa-mayor-bowser.html">belittled as “incompetent” on Twitter</a> after she criticized his choice to occupy D.C. streets with federal guards. </p>
<p>Finding herself metaphorically in a spot between armed agents and barbs launched in the Twittersphere, Bowser seems to have answered cultural critic <a href="https://www.markdery.com/books/culture-jamming-hacking-slashing-and-sniping-in-the-empire-of-signs-2/">Mark Dery’s question “How to box with shadows”</a> by adopting the tactics of <a href="https://www.markdery.com/books/culture-jamming-hacking-slashing-and-sniping-in-the-empire-of-signs-2/">culture jamming</a>, a range of creative practices that include hacking and altering the messages of advertising or urban signs to expose or subvert their meaning. </p>
<p>Like a seasoned culture jammer, Bowser challenged the system by liberating the space from domination. She turned the streets into a canvas. </p>
<p>Bowser situated the phrase BLACK LIVES MATTER as an arrow pointing to Lafayette Square, the <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/history/2020/06/05/lafayette-square-slave-market-dc-protests/">one-time marketplace for hundreds of enslaved Black people</a>. The square was the backdrop for <a href="https://www.politico.com/news/2020/06/02/republican-criticism-trump-ousting-protesters-church-photo-op-296521">Trump’s Bible-brandishing performance</a> and the tableau where <a href="https://www.npr.org/2020/06/01/867532070/trumps-unannounced-church-visit-angers-church-officials">Attorney General William Barr directed that law enforcement</a> clear out peaceful protesters to set the stage for Trump’s poorly conceived expedition, which they did with rubber bullets and tear gas. </p>
<h2>Symbolic pavement</h2>
<p>In graffiti, the location you choose to mark is as important as the content and style of writing. In “<a href="http://www.rhizomes.net/issue25/ferrell/">Spot Theory</a>,” graffiti writers Jeff Ferrell and Robert Weide point out that the ability to select culturally significant sites and to insert language with precision is an esteemed skill set among street artists.</p>
<p>By making a point of the asphalt’s surface, Bowser’s artwork highlights the street as a site of domination, rebellion and politics: the pavement on which George Floyd’s face was pinned for 8 minutes and 46 seconds by former officer Derek Chauvin; the site of hundreds of thousands of global footsteps marching in solidarity; the turf on which more and more people take a knee to call for an end to racism and police brutality. The yellow street visibly vibrates now.</p>
<p>Bowser’s action is an appeal to reinterpret seemingly utilitarian structures in ways that protect democratic spaces. In a cycle reminiscent of the “<a href="https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/2321/art-is-a-spiritual-path-by-pat-b-allen/">call, response, release</a>” championed by author and poet Estella Conwill Májozo, Bowser is “called” by her experiences, and responds creatively. In the “release,” Bowser turns the power of engagement over to the public, entrusting them with future actions.</p>
<p>The day after Bowser caused anti-racist words to be painted on the streets of our nation’s capital, a group of activists showed up with paint and buckets. Commandeering Bowser’s municipal language of “safety color” yellow, they added: <a href="https://www.npr.org/local/305/2020/06/08/872234932/activists-painted-defund-the-police-next-to-the-new-black-lives-matter-mural">DEFUND THE POLICE</a>.</p>
<p>[<em>You’re smart and curious about the world. So are The Conversation’s authors and editors.</em> <a href="https://theconversation.com/us/newsletters?utm_source=TCUS&utm_medium=inline-link&utm_campaign=newsletter-text&utm_content=youresmart">You can read us daily by subscribing to our newsletter</a>.]</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/140580/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Rebekah Modrak does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
Washington, DC Mayor Muriel Bowser ordered ‘BLACK LIVES MATTER’ to be painted on a street near the White House. The act would have been considered vandalism had it not been done by city workers.
Rebekah Modrak, Professor, University of Michigan
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/138706
2020-06-03T14:45:22Z
2020-06-03T14:45:22Z
COVID-19 murals express hope and help envision urban futures
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/338388/original/file-20200528-51462-119p2k0.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=59%2C165%2C3886%2C2751&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Rather than blank boarded-up storefronts, artists in Vancouver have created murals to offer inspiration, public health messaging and beauty during the coronavirus pandemic. This one is by Will Phillips.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Eugene McCann)</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Urban public spaces have been transforming during the COVID-19 pandemic. Storefronts in once-bustling shopping districts have been boarded up with plywood. In many cities, large temporary boards have <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2020/04/06/coronavirus-themed-murals-from-around-the-world.html">gradually been painted with murals</a>.</p>
<p>In Vancouver, B.C., there are three types of new murals: inspirational works of general encouragement and gratitude toward essential workers; informational murals, conveying warnings and advice; and decorative, largely abstract, paintings adding colour to the plywood.</p>
<p><a href="https://theconversation.com/indignacao-brazilian-street-art-in-its-historical-context-27926">Cities have always had street art</a>, but what should we make of these recent murals? Our research looks at how public space is essential to political debate about urban futures. </p>
<p>In our critical reading of the COVID-19 murals, the artists are expressing specific visions of the future. Our analysis also raises questions about whose visions for the future are less evident in the murals.</p>
<h2>Murals tell stories and are political</h2>
<p>Thin veneers of paint on walls, murals seem one-dimensional. Yet, they reference and resonate across numerous aspects of life. Murals take up space. </p>
<p>They often commemorate and glorify particular stories of the past, like conservative tales of empire or the “good old days.” Murals also <a href="https://www.twincities.com/2020/05/30/stunning-mural-of-george-floyd-provides-minneapolis-community-a-place-to-process/">memorialize victims of injustice</a> — as the ones for George Floyd have done. These murals are intended to inspire progressive change and they <a href="https://sparcinla.org/">celebrate movements that have fought for that change</a>.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/338978/original/file-20200601-95013-1niruty.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/338978/original/file-20200601-95013-1niruty.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=410&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/338978/original/file-20200601-95013-1niruty.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=410&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/338978/original/file-20200601-95013-1niruty.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=410&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/338978/original/file-20200601-95013-1niruty.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=516&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/338978/original/file-20200601-95013-1niruty.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=516&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/338978/original/file-20200601-95013-1niruty.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=516&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">People gather at a memorial mural painted on Chicago Avenue in South Minneapolis where George Floyd was killed by police.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Brian Peterson/Star Tribune/AP)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Murals are also future-oriented. They invoke opportunities and desired social change. Thus, they are political. Researchers and activists pay attention to murals as <a href="https://themainlander.com/2016/10/05/vancouver-mural-festival-is-caught-up-in-gentrification/">harbingers of gentrification</a>, as indicators of <a href="https://theconversation.com/speaking-with-cameron-mcauliffe-on-graffiti-art-and-crime-39183">local economic development priorities</a>, as <a href="https://theconversation.com/street-art-personal-creations-get-political-with-public-messaging-115945">grassroots pedagogy</a> and as expressions of <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/1468-2427.12053">struggles over the city</a>.</p>
<p>Murals tell stories that are shaped by their artists and funders. They represent partial stories about what is important in the world and who is an important member of the public.</p>
<h2>COVID-19 murals</h2>
<p>In Vancouver, officially curated <a href="https://www.theglobeandmail.com/canada/british-columbia/article-artists-fight-back-against-coronavirus-with-hope-heart-and-public/">murals have been painted by local artists</a> during the crisis. They’re commissioned and supported by the city, store owners, business improvement associations, the local <a href="https://www.vanmuralfest.ca/">Mural Festival organization</a>, a graffiti removal company and a credit union. </p>
<p>Inspirational murals, like the masked angelic health professional by <a href="https://www.instagram.com/sketchbork/">Will Phillips</a> in downtown Vancouver, represent the care and professional competence of health-care and other essential workers. These murals often contain portraits of individuals or small groups in monumental, heroic or even quasi-religious poses. They feature personal care workers who, until recently, may have been taken for granted.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/338933/original/file-20200601-95018-ybdd9h.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/338933/original/file-20200601-95018-ybdd9h.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/338933/original/file-20200601-95018-ybdd9h.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/338933/original/file-20200601-95018-ybdd9h.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/338933/original/file-20200601-95018-ybdd9h.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/338933/original/file-20200601-95018-ybdd9h.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/338933/original/file-20200601-95018-ybdd9h.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/338933/original/file-20200601-95018-ybdd9h.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">‘Tha Virus,’ a collaboration between artist Smokey D and community advocate Karen Ward with a public health message.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Eugene McCann)</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Informational murals convey advice. For example, <a href="https://www.msn.com/en-ca/news/canada/coronavirus-street-art-to-inform-residents-on-vancouvers-downtown-eastside/ar-BB12eYDo">artist Smokey D’s mural, a collaboration with community advocate Karen Ward</a>, advises physical distancing, frequent hand-washing, less face-touching and provides statistics on the global impact of the virus. Funded by the city and located in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside, home to many people with health vulnerabilities, this mural is part of a wider ecosystem of grassroots outreach work, as well as traditional sources of news. </p>
<p>Compared to inspirational murals, informational ones often encourage self-help and awareness for survival.</p>
<p>Decorative murals are less likely to emphasize a message or an individual. Instead, they tend to mirror the esthetic of the retail store on which they are painted, either in their colour scheme or motifs. Their purpose is to make shuttered retail streetscapes more attractive, thus encouraging customers to return, while leaving the interpretation of the art up to their audience. They avoid taking a stand that might alienate any viewers.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/338936/original/file-20200601-95028-copms9.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/338936/original/file-20200601-95028-copms9.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/338936/original/file-20200601-95028-copms9.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/338936/original/file-20200601-95028-copms9.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/338936/original/file-20200601-95028-copms9.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/338936/original/file-20200601-95028-copms9.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/338936/original/file-20200601-95028-copms9.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Decorative murals, like this one by Victoria Siecz are not message-centric but are esthetic offerings that enhance commissioning businesses.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.instagram.com/victoriasiecz/">(Eugene McCann)</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Reading and re-writing the city</h2>
<p>Urban geographers have long approached the city <a href="https://www.cambridge.org/ca/academic/subjects/geography/human-geography/city-text-politics-landscape-interpretation-kandyan-kingdom?format=PB">as a text</a> <a href="https://www.mcny.org/exhibition/city-canvas">or canvas</a> that can be read to understand how it is shaped by political, economic, social and cultural forces and values. </p>
<p>Reading the murals commissioned by local government and business allows us to see a heightened appreciation of care work; a commitment to the well-being of the most vulnerable, and a concern about the future of brick-and-mortar retail.</p>
<p>Yet, official narratives are only part of the story. While these murals reflect approved messages, images, values and agendas, other artists, painting and creating in less official capacities, are mainly left out of the picture, with less resources. Thus, their messages are less likely to gain public attention. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/339043/original/file-20200602-95024-1cumj0e.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/339043/original/file-20200602-95024-1cumj0e.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/339043/original/file-20200602-95024-1cumj0e.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/339043/original/file-20200602-95024-1cumj0e.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/339043/original/file-20200602-95024-1cumj0e.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/339043/original/file-20200602-95024-1cumj0e.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/339043/original/file-20200602-95024-1cumj0e.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Izzie Cheung and Brian Heimowski created this inspirational mural of respiratory therapists.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.instagram.com/this_iz_art/">(Eugene McCann)</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>There are no critiques of <a href="https://www.policyalternatives.ca/publications/commentary/fast-facts-homelessness-precarious-housing-and-covid-19">housing precarity</a>, <a href="https://www.policynote.ca/seniors-care-profit/">health-care funding</a> or <a href="https://nupge.ca/sites/default/files/pdf/COVID-19%20and%20Income%20Inequality%20Paper.pdf">income inequality</a> in the officially sanctioned murals.</p>
<p>This is not to say the commissioned murals are apolitical. The inspirational and informational murals contain latent calls for increased public funding for public health care, decent housing and social services for essential workers and for people who are low-income earners. </p>
<p>The decorative murals may raise questions about the long-term value and viability of urban shopping districts. Their presence may subtly ask passersby if they are willing to find public solutions to the threat of e-commerce.</p>
<p>Murals are remarkably ephemeral. Unless maintained assiduously, they quickly fade. COVID-19 murals are <a href="https://dailyhive.com/vancouver/robson-street-boarding-dismantled-reopening">particularly fleeting</a>, since they are painted on temporary hoardings. Similarly, supportive feelings about essential workers, vulnerable neighbours and local businesses, can quickly fade, especially when other economic priorities arise. </p>
<p>Public art invites us to think about what stories are being told to us — and by whom. We should also be aware of the stories we are not being told. Art can offer this sort of comprehensive, critical reading of the world and its possible futures. It can inspire progressive political coalitions to work toward a more just society. If they succeed, an artist will paint them in a mural one day.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/138706/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Eugene McCann receives funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Dr. Friederike Landau receives funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Lise Mahieus receives funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council.</span></em></p>
During COVID-19, boarded-up storefronts host various new types of inspirational, informational and decorative murals that should be read critically as representing political agendas for the future.
Eugene McCann, Professor of Geography, Simon Fraser University
Friederike Landau, Postdoctoral Researcher, Geography, Simon Fraser University
Lise Mahieus, MA student, Geography, Simon Fraser University
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/138487
2020-05-18T12:19:20Z
2020-05-18T12:19:20Z
Coronavirus murals: inside the world of pandemic-inspired street art
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/335415/original/file-20200515-138624-1r2kjce.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C7%2C613%2C613&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">'Super Nurse!' painted as an 'ode' to all healthcare professionals around the world.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.instagram.com/p/B-ACb_4lMCf/">@iamfake/Instagram</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>There is no aspect of life the COVID-19 pandemic has not affected – and many of us are finding that <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2020/mar/28/cancelled-cultural-events-alternative-online-theatre-podcasts-comedy-art-pop-music-books">cultural events and art online</a> are lacking something vibrant and “real”. </p>
<p>One notable exception is street artists and graffiti artists, who have been busy incorporating COVID-19 into their work. The most prominent of these pieces is Banksy’s homage to the NHS and nurses everywhere called “Game Changer”. It hangs in Southampton Hospital, and will eventually be auctioned off for the NHS. </p>
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<p>Street artists all over the world have ventured out into quiet streets and left behind vibrant, thought-provoking, amusing commentary on the crisis. Many echo the same message as Banksy, that it’s the nurses and front-line healthcare workers that are the real heroes in this crisis. This can be seen in the new work of Amsterdam-based street artist FAKE, whose mural “<a href="https://streetartnews.net/2020/03/fakes-new-mural-super-nurse-available-for-free-download.html">Super Nurse!</a>” in the lead image shows a nurse wearing a face mask emblazoned with the Superman logo. </p>
<p>Others are more critical of politicians; or comically cynical about panic buying, social isolation and the pandemic itself. Below is Bristol-based street artist John D’oh’s take on the idiotic and dangerous statement US President Trump made about injecting disinfectant as a potential solution to a COVID-19 infection.</p>
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<p>In a similar vein, Brazilian street artist Aira Ocrespo has depicted Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro. Bolsonaro has discouraged social distancing and lockdown, and was quoted as saying “So what? What do you want me to do?” when asked about Brazil’s rapid increase in COVID-19 cases. The text reads “Bolsonaro’s mask against the coronavirus”.</p>
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<p>In another example, Australian street artist LUSHSUX shows Chinese president Xi Jinping wearing a <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/mar/26/hazmat-suit-disease-deadly-viruses-danger-symbol-heroic">hazmat suit</a> while saying, “Nothing to see. Carry on”. It alludes to the fact that China claimed to have very low COVID-19 infection rates while reports suggest the actual rate may actually be <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/apr/23/china-coronavirus-cases-might-have-been-four-times-official-figure-says-study">four times higher</a> than stated.</p>
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<p>The panic buying that afflicted many communities in the early days of lockdown has also been lampooned. Dominican street artist Jesus Cruz Artiles, aka EME Freethinker, comments on the toilet paper hoarding. Gollum of Lord of the Rings fame is seen uttering his famous line “my precious” while ogling a roll of toilet paper.</p>
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<p>John D'oh also gives his take on the toilet roll situation:</p>
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<p>Clearly these artists are a reflective group with informed opinions about the social issues around them. And they are not – as some would argue – simply out to vandalise to glorify themselves. </p>
<h2>Collective boundaries</h2>
<p>Street artists often take news stories, rumours and public information and reflect and exaggerate them. Street art is therefore often a product of the mainstream media, and an integrated component of it. This is commentary that becomes part of the spectrum of opinions about the pandemic. </p>
<p>But these opinions are not subject to any editorial control, nor do they ask for any authoritative permission to be expressed. This allows street artists to say things that might otherwise be excluded from public commentary. </p>
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<p>This type of commentary is very important, as it helps <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/02/26/us/politics/overton-window-democrats.html">society identify</a> where the <a href="https://www.vox.com/2017/12/21/16806676/strikethrough-how-trump-overton-window-extreme-normal">collective boundaries of acceptable opinion</a> are. Street art that goes too far will be reviled and painted over. But where street art says something compellingly controversial in a creative way, it will be discussed and shared through pictures and social media. This helps the art and the underlying opinions to be more widely accepted.</p>
<h2>Carnival against power</h2>
<p>Street art painted during the global lockdown is also important as it creates a sense of the <a href="https://ceasefiremagazine.co.uk/in-theory-bakhtin-2/">carnivalesque</a>. This is a concept put forth by philosopher Mikhail Bakhtin in which social rules and hierarchies are discarded so that a playful but critical critique of society’s structures can be made. </p>
<p>It occurs when the normal rules of society are suspended. Such instances encourage people to actively engage with their experiences so they may identify the artificial barriers and statuses that separate people from each other. It’s hoped that upon seeing these false hierarchies, people reject them and live a more free and unified form of social existence.</p>
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<p>Knowing that in some instances, these artists violated lockdown and possibly the law to paint, shows that momentary subversions of authoritative rules are possible, and that the walls of a city can be re-purposed as spaces of expression and commentary. </p>
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<p>By mocking political leaders, laughing at the lesser aspects of our humanity, and recognising healthcare workers as superior to the heroes we traditionally mythologise, these murals offer us momentary respite from the constant news barrage and psychological weight of the global COVID-19 crisis.</p>
<p>These artists help to express our collective rage, fear and frustrations, and in doing so they may help us to reduce those feelings just a little. They also express our collective hope and reverence – and just maybe they help increase the unity between us all a little bit more.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/138487/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Tyson Mitman does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
Street artists offer us momentary respite from the psychological weight of the global crisis.
Tyson Mitman, Senior Lecturer in Sociology and Criminology, York St John University
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/131914
2020-03-08T19:02:47Z
2020-03-08T19:02:47Z
All the world’s a stage - buskers can make it big in a connected world
<p>Street musicians are the producers of sidewalk melodies, the authors of the soundtrack of our cities. There is a unique interrelation between buskers and fans that occurs only in the streets, with no security staff, no VIP seats, or entrance fee. </p>
<p>In the past two decades, the audience for street performers has grown from dozens to millions thanks to sharing on social media like Facebook, Twitter and TikTok, digital platforms such as YouTube and Soundcloud, and streaming services including Spotify. </p>
<p>Busking has long been a way for musicians to gain performance experience and garner a following. Now digital platforms are powerful tools that can transmit local artists to global audiences. </p>
<h2>From the streets to the charts</h2>
<p>Australian singer <a href="https://www.tonesandi.com/">Tones and I</a> became a phenomenon after <a href="https://theindustryobserver.thebrag.com/tones-and-i-story-busking-top-of-the-charts/">being discovered</a> on the streets of Byron Bay. Since releasing <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q0hyYWKXF0Q">Dance Monkey</a> in May 2019, she went from being an unknown busker to become one of the most streamed artists on Spotify, with <a href="https://www.nme.com/en_au/news/music/tones-and-i-dance-monkey-fastest-australian-song-billion-streams-2604829">over 1 billion streams</a> globally. </p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/Tn-MGO5OXII?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">What Is ‘Dance Monkey’ and How Did It Take Over the World?</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Four years ago, another global success was forged on the streets of Australia. Multi-instrumentalist <a href="https://www.tashsultana.com/">Tash Sultana</a> used to <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IXCu8nnFRB8">busk on Bourke Street</a> in Melbourne. Then the live bedroom recording of her singing <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vn8phH0k5HI">Jungle</a> scored more than 64 millions views on YouTube. </p>
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<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/q2ezPJs5dIc?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">Tash Sultana - The Story So Far</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Both acts share the same management company. <a href="https://www.lemontreemusic.com.au/">Lemon Tree Music</a> was founded in 2013 by two ex-buskers, Regan Lethbridge and David Morgan. Lethbridge told <a href="https://theindustryobserver.thebrag.com/how-lemon-tree-music-turn-buskers-into-global-superstars/">The Industry Observer</a> that he hoped to tap into the drive shown by street performers to realise a vision of busking entrepreneurship:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>We always respected buskers. […] We love the work ethic, the grind. They want it more. It’s the extra 1%. They have the drive to get out there on the street every day to earn some coins and sell some CDs. </p>
</blockquote>
<p>Some of contemporary music’s biggest names were discovered on the streets: Ed Sheeran (<a href="https://heatworld.com/celebrity/news/ed-sheeran-career-timeline/">performed in London underground stations</a>), Justin Bieber <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=28VmUxTDU5Q">used to busk</a> in Stratford, Canada, and singer-songwriter Benjamin Clementine was <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-34886610">discovered while singing at Paris metro stations</a>. </p>
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<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/DKEkAf4EYCA?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">Ed Sheeran busking in London, UK.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>These success stories connect with pre-internet idols: <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Edith-Piaf">Édith Piaf</a>, <a href="https://www.npr.org/2015/05/15/406988156/b-b-king-on-life-plantation-living-and-his-droopy-drawers-sound">B.B. King</a>, <a href="https://www.heart.co.uk/showbiz/famous-musicians-started-as-street-artists-buskers/janis-joplin/">Janis Joplin</a> and <a href="https://www.gq-magazine.co.uk/article/rod-stewart-interview">Rod Stewart</a> all played on the streets. According to the late Blues writer <a href="https://www.bloomsburypopularmusic.com/encyclopedia-chapter?docid=b-9781501329234&tocid=b-9781501329234-03869&st=street+musician">Paul Oliver</a>,</p>
<blockquote>
<p>there have been street musicians since streets were first built, and human beings began to sing, or to make and play the first musical instruments. </p>
</blockquote>
<p>After <a href="https://pitchfork.com/thepitch/1291-searching-the-subways-for-mike-yung-the-viral-voice-that-time-forgot/">37 years performing as a busker in New York</a>, singer <a href="https://open.spotify.com/artist/4UffC3o3JiLSg7pa5DpQbp?si=Sau3HHDaTEqVQ9_tGI1ZOg">Mike Yung</a> got <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GrHfWKeTDEI">a couple of his performances shared on YouTube</a>. In 2018, Yung recorded a song with Dutch DJ Martin Garrix and scored more than 27 million views online.</p>
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<figcaption><span class="caption">Dreamer, by Martin Garrix featuring Mike Yung.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Change for good</h2>
<p>Some projects and platforms have sought to combine technology with busking for a cause. </p>
<p>Created in 2002, the <a href="https://playingforchange.com/">Playing For Change</a> project aims to <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Us-TVg40ExM">record musicians</a> in the streets with a mobile studio. Music producer Mark Johnson started by <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/musicshow/playing-for-change/4599166">recording buskers</a> all around the world singing lines from the song <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Us-TVg40ExM">Stand By Me</a>. The clip has now had more than 140 million views. Buskers from 125 countries took part, money was raised for music schools, and the concept became a global movement “<a href="https://playingforchange.com/about/">to inspire and connect the world through music</a>”. </p>
<p><a href="https://busk.co/">The Busking Project</a> is a platform where people can join as a busker or as a fan. Artists can be hired for events and earn cashless tips.</p>
<p>Similar payment tools and initiatives have been established in <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/business-44271647">London</a>, <a href="https://www.statesman.com/news/20190726/dont-have-cash-city-program-makes-tipping-local-musicians-easy">Austin (USA)</a>, <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-07-28/melbourne-buskers-trial-smartphone-and-tap-and-go-payments/10042792">Melbourne</a> and <a href="http://www.gig.show/">São Paulo</a>. </p>
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<figcaption><span class="caption">Benjamin Clementine performing in a Paris Metro Station.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>A cluster of buskers</h2>
<p>Based on online map tags, the global busking festival scene is estimated to include <a href="https://www.google.com/maps/d/u/0/viewer?ll=6.670869944464128e-9%2C0&hl=pt-BR&z=2&mid=13Du7dnT-Udu5Wexh-CqJ_3JAZVB3tvwz">over 170 street music events</a>. There is the nine-day <a href="https://www.ferrarabuskers.com/en/idea-of-festival/">Ferrara Buskers Festival</a> in Italy, the <a href="https://www.edfringe.com/experience/what-is-the-festival-fringe">Edinburgh Festival Fringe</a> in Scotland, and <a href="http://traduction.culture.gouv.fr/url/Result.aspx?to=en&url=https://fetedelamusique.culture.gouv.fr/L-evenement/Historique-de-la-Fete-de-la-Musique">Fête de La Musique</a> in France. <a href="http://honkfest.org/about/">HONK!</a> is an <a href="https://www.routledge.com/HONK-A-Street-Band-Renaissance-of-Music-and-Activism-1st-Edition/Garofalo-Allen-Snyder/p/book/9780367030711">independent and non-commercial festival</a> of activist street bands created in Somerville, Massachusetts, USA, and <a href="https://www.buskersbythecreek.com.au/">Buskers by the Lake</a> (formerly Buskers by the Creek) on Australia’s Sunshine Coast lists Tones and I among its previous <a href="https://www.buskersbythecreek.com.au/the-battle">busking battle winners</a>. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/317693/original/file-20200227-24672-13ii0p4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/317693/original/file-20200227-24672-13ii0p4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=575&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/317693/original/file-20200227-24672-13ii0p4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=575&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/317693/original/file-20200227-24672-13ii0p4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=575&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/317693/original/file-20200227-24672-13ii0p4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=723&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/317693/original/file-20200227-24672-13ii0p4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=723&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/317693/original/file-20200227-24672-13ii0p4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=723&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">StreetMusicMap, a global research on street music.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Curated by Daniel Bacchieri</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In a world where everybody is filming, the streets are the backdrop to an international music video festival. </p>
<p>Curation projects like <a href="https://themusicman.uk/">The Music Man</a>, <a href="https://soundslikevanspirit.eu/">SoundsLikeVanSpirit</a> and <a href="https://www.instagram.com/streetmusicmap/">StreetMusicMap</a> (featuring my research) identify busking hubs such as the subway systems and public squares in <a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/BowxvNkjuTX/">NYC</a>, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_iN1QsDgSZw">London</a> and <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4tRp1aDqf5w">Paris</a> and musicians performing along main streets like the <a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/BINRvUmhCct/">Paulista Avenue</a> in São Paulo (Brazil), <a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/0S7zU3jiSY/">Istiklal Street</a> in Istanbul (Turkey) or <a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/BywZGU0Fyp_/">Bourke Street</a> in Melbourne, Australia. </p>
<p>Once mapped, we hope street music acts will illuminate narratives that go beyond sounds and beats. They will tell us about global culture and human connections.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/131914/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Daniel Bacchieri is the founder and curator of StreetMusicMap, a global research tool on street music.
<a href="https://www.instagram.com/streetmusicmap/">https://www.instagram.com/streetmusicmap/</a></span></em></p>
Busking has long been a way for musicians to gain performance experience and garner a following. Digital platforms are powerful tools that can transmit local artists to global audiences.
Daniel Bacchieri, PhD Candidate, Sir Zelman Cowen School of Music, Monash University
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/132035
2020-02-19T13:48:17Z
2020-02-19T13:48:17Z
Banksy: what happens when someone vandalises graffiti – and who owns it anyway?
<p>The news that a Valentine’s Day mural by world-renowned graffiti artist Banksy was “<a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-bristol-51515557">vandalised</a>” has attracted substantial media interest. The image of a girl firing red flowers from her catapult was defaced by spray paint within hours of appearing on a house wall in Bristol. News reports said measures would be taken to protect the artwork from further damage, but the incident has raised the question as to whether an unsolicited piece of street art can be vandalised.</p>
<p>“Vandalism” is not a legal term – in UK law, it equates to criminal damage and may amount to an offence under section 1 of the <a href="http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1971/48/contents">Criminal Damage Act 1971</a> if it were to be an intentional or reckless destruction or damage of property belonging to another.</p>
<p>The law does not, however, draw a clear distinction between great works of street art that have been thoughtfully applied and the casual tagging of a wall. In both cases, if permission has not been sought, then an offence may be committed regardless of the merit of the artwork in question. The <a href="http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2003/38/contents">Anti-social Behaviour Act 2003</a> defines graffiti as “the painting or writing on, or the soiling, marking or other defacing of, any property by whatever means” and graffiti artists may be subject to a fine or may be subject to prosecution under the Criminal Damage Act 1971 where more substantial damage has been done.</p>
<p>Several Banksy artworks have been removed or defaced. <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-bristol-14145286">The Gorilla in a Pink Mask</a>, one of Banksy’s first works on a Bristol social club, and his <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-hampshire-11827202">No Future</a> mural on a Southampton wall were painted over – the first accidentally, and the second in an act of apparent vandalism.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/315957/original/file-20200218-10995-5ysi38.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/315957/original/file-20200218-10995-5ysi38.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/315957/original/file-20200218-10995-5ysi38.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/315957/original/file-20200218-10995-5ysi38.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/315957/original/file-20200218-10995-5ysi38.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/315957/original/file-20200218-10995-5ysi38.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/315957/original/file-20200218-10995-5ysi38.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Banksy’s Masked Gorilla artwork in Bristol was hit by vandals.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">JOHN19701970 via Flickr</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Damaging property</h2>
<p>What amounts to damage to property is broadly construed and includes where that damage is both temporary and minor. For example, the courts <a href="http://www.e-lawresources.co.uk/Hardman-v-Chief-Constable-of-Avon.php">have previously held</a> that painting a pavement with water-soluble paints amounted to damaging the pavement despite the fact this could be easily removed. Damaging typically means property has been rendered unusable, a cost will be incurred in repairing the property, or the property has been otherwise been reduced in value.</p>
<p>Though we can normally assume that graffiti amounts to criminal damage, graffiti of artistic merit or monetary worth may instead enhance the value of that property. So much so that homeowners who had Banksy on the side of their home offered that mural for sale in 2007 “<a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/bristol/6351467.stm">with a Victorian house attached</a>”. </p>
<h2>The Valentine’s Day mural</h2>
<p>What of the defaced Valentine’s Day mural? We know that a Banksy street mural can be worth <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-bristol-28950398">upwards of £400,000</a> and it is likely that Banksy is one of the few graffiti artists whose unsolicited works may not be subject to criminal prosecution (though, they still would amount to criminal damage in law).</p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1228700502361284608"}"></div></p>
<p>It is clear the homeowners were receptive to the Valentine’s mural, as they unsuccessfully attempted to protect it with a perspex sheet. One issue requiring clarification here is the actual “type” of property we are concerned with. The wall is part of a building and is therefore part of the land. With the addition of the artwork, the question becomes whether that wall has taken on a new “form”. </p>
<p>For example, has that wall become a form of “personal” property (like a framed painting)? Has that wall, now with the artwork in tow, become a form of “intellectual” property, the likes of which we speak about protection in copyright?</p>
<p>The damage inflicted by spray paint is a more clear-cut case of criminal damage – although whether this amounts to criminal damage of the Valentine’s mural or merely of the wall is a more difficult question. As the damaged “property” in question remains a wall – albeit a highly decorated one – it is likely the secondary graffiti amounted to criminal damage to a wall that had greatly increased in value.</p>
<h2>Who owns the mural?</h2>
<p>Where graffiti has been applied to the wall of a property, that physical piece of “art” belongs to the owners of the property, who may choose to lawfully <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-essex-29918326">remove it</a> or to protect it. If the property is rented – as is reportedly the case for the Valentine’s mural – the graffiti becomes part of the fabric of that building and belongs to the property owner, not the tenants. Ownership of the intangible rights to the artwork (the copyright), however, will remain the property of Banksy as the artist.</p>
<p>Ownership rights have been a subject of dispute. In 2012 a Banksy mural entitled <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2013/may/11/banksy-slave-labour-mural-row-sale">Slave Labour</a> was painted on a property owned by Wood Green Investments to later be removed and offered for sale at auction. There was an outcry by local residents who considered it to be community property. Here, the law is once again clear. Regardless of the intentions of the artist – it is unlikely Banksy intended to gift an investment firm a mural – it clearly belonged to those owners of the property.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/315963/original/file-20200218-11000-1lt2twc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/315963/original/file-20200218-11000-1lt2twc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/315963/original/file-20200218-11000-1lt2twc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/315963/original/file-20200218-11000-1lt2twc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/315963/original/file-20200218-11000-1lt2twc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/315963/original/file-20200218-11000-1lt2twc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/315963/original/file-20200218-11000-1lt2twc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Banksy’s Slave Labour mural on Turnpike Lane in north London.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">DeptfordJon via Flickr</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>While it is questionable whether the Banksy artwork is capable of being damaged, given that it itself is criminal damage, it is certainly the case that the wall (which will have increased in value as a result of the artwork) will have been further damaged by the act of vandalism. </p>
<p>The question of ownership will remain hotly contested as more Banksy artworks appear and the nature of the property – whether it remains land or becomes personal and intellectual property – will continue to enthuse property lawyers for some time to come.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/132035/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
The defacing of a new Banksy mural in Bristol has raised some interesting legal questions.
Mark Thomas, Senior Lecturer, Nottingham Law School, Nottingham Trent University
Samantha Pegg, Senior Lecturer, Criminal Law, Nottingham Trent University
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/124919
2019-10-10T08:46:24Z
2019-10-10T08:46:24Z
How Banksy’s latest trademark row could backfire
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/296182/original/file-20191009-3917-1dwjao3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Banksy's merchandise "shop" in Croydon, London.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/london-uk-october-2-2019-crowds-1523572535">Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>The elusive Bristol street artist <a href="https://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/the-story-behind-banksy-4310304/?page=1">Banksy</a> has <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2019/oct/01/banksy-launches-homewares-shop-in-dispute-over-trademark">hit the headlines</a> again recently after opening a store named <a href="https://grossdomesticproduct.com">Gross Domestic Product</a> in South London. It is (literally) a shop window where people can see displayed objects and buy them online. Products for sale include the <a href="https://edition.cnn.com/2019/06/29/entertainment/stormzy-glastonbury-scli-gbr-intl/index.html">Union Jack stab-proof vest</a> as worn by Stormzy at Glastonbury festival, disco balls made from discarded police riot helmets and other items showcasing Banksy’s art. </p>
<p>The famous artist said he had been pushed into setting up the store selling “offensive and impractical” merchandise because of a trademark dispute with a greetings card company. In a statement he said:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>A greetings card company is contesting the trademark I hold to my art and attempting to take custody of my name so they can sell their fake Banksy merchandise legally.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>He was then legally advised that the best way to remedy the situation was to create his own merchandise. This course of action presumably aims to show that Banksy is trying to abide by the law which requires owners of registered trademarks to properly use their brands in the course of trade. In the past Banksy has never manufactured, sold or offered for sale goods bearing his brands.</p>
<h2>The dispute</h2>
<p>The row arose in March 2019 when greetings card producer Full Colour Black started an invalidity action aimed at <a href="https://euipo.europa.eu/eSearch/#details/trademarks/012575155">cancelling an EU trademark</a> based on Banksy’s iconic mural <a href="https://www.thewholeworldisaplayground.com/banksy-bethlehem-street-art">Flower Thrower</a>, originally painted in the Palestinian town of Bethlehem. The trademark had been formally registered in August 2014 by Pest Control, the official body which authenticates Banksy’s art, acting on behalf of the artist.</p>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/296179/original/file-20191009-3935-14m0yy.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/296179/original/file-20191009-3935-14m0yy.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=646&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/296179/original/file-20191009-3935-14m0yy.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=646&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/296179/original/file-20191009-3935-14m0yy.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=646&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/296179/original/file-20191009-3935-14m0yy.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=811&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/296179/original/file-20191009-3935-14m0yy.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=811&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/296179/original/file-20191009-3935-14m0yy.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=811&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Banksy’s Flower Thrower.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Banksy_costume.jpg">Banksy/Wikipedia</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The legal challenge mainly relies on two arguments. First, the trademark is not capable of being perceived as such by consumers, as the artwork is used so intensively and commonly by a multitude of entities that sell products reproducing Banksy’s art. In the past this has been accepted and even encouraged by the artist, who famously once said that “copyright is for losers”.</p>
<p>His art is regularly printed and reproduced on everything from posters to keyrings. In other words, the Flower Thrower trademark (and arguably other Banksy brands such as the <a href="https://trademarks.ipo.gov.uk/ipo-tmowner/page/search?id=39918&domain=1&app=0&mark=UK00003354581">Hip-Hop Rat</a>) are just mere artworks, the card company argues, that would be seen by people as artistic ornamentation or products themselves. But they are not signs capable of allowing consumers to recognise the manufacturer of the goods.</p>
<p>The second argument is that Banksy should enforce his copyright over his artworks instead of registering trademarks that incorporate them and are not really used to distinguish goods. Indeed, while copyright aims at protecting artistic works, trademarks protect logos and signs that help consumers to make informed purchase choices.</p>
<p>But why does the artist avoid relying on copyright, preferring to apply for trademarks, instead? After all, if copyright is ethically unacceptable and contrary to his anti-establishment message (as Banksy seems to believe), surely trademarks should be considered undesirable on the same grounds?</p>
<p>Both copyright and trademarks give monopolistic rights that allow their owners to profit from their own creations, preventing others from trying to cash in. So it doesn’t really make sense to assert that “<a href="https://ipcloseup.com/2019/05/07/copyright-is-for-losers-says-street-artist-banksy-some-trademarks-not/">copyright is for losers</a>” while simultaneously seeking trademark registrations to try to protect copyrightable art.</p>
<p>The real reason Banksy doesn’t invoke copyright seems far more calculated than simply being based on ethical and solidarity principles. Starting a copyright legal action would require Pest Control to show that it has acquired the copyright from the artist. But this would reveal Banksy’s real name, which the famously anonymous artist wants to avoid, as it would erase the aura of mystery around him and have an impact on the commercial value of his art.</p>
<p>This has also happened last year when Banksy <a href="https://theconversation.com/banksy-finally-goes-to-court-to-stop-unauthorised-merchandising-despite-saying-copyright-is-for-losers-112390">sued an Italian museum</a> that had organised an unauthorised exhibition which included the sale of merchandise reproducing his branded art. The street artist again did not enforce copyright – he preferred to invoke trademark infringement instead.</p>
<h2>David v Goliah</h2>
<p>But the artist’s new shop – and his reasons for the new venture – could backfire. The argument that he now must sell his own range of branded merchandise to resist an invalidity trademark action could be invoked by others to show that such use of his brands is basically token, for the sole purpose of avoiding his trademarks being revoked for non-use. The law is quite clear on this point: if you don’t use your brand in a genuine way, you may lose the registration. </p>
<p>The Flower Thrower, the Hip-Hop Rat and other trademarks <a href="https://euipo.europa.eu/eSearch/#advanced/trademarks/1/100/n1=MarkVerbalElementText&v1=Banksy&o1=AND&c1=IS&sf=ApplicationNumber&so=asc">registered by Banksy</a> may now be more exposed to the risk of revocation for non-use.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/296183/original/file-20191009-3851-s35lu2.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/296183/original/file-20191009-3851-s35lu2.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=357&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/296183/original/file-20191009-3851-s35lu2.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=357&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/296183/original/file-20191009-3851-s35lu2.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=357&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/296183/original/file-20191009-3851-s35lu2.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=449&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/296183/original/file-20191009-3851-s35lu2.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=449&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/296183/original/file-20191009-3851-s35lu2.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=449&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Hip Hop Rat by Banksy.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Banksy_Hip_Hop_Rat.jpg">Tim Fuller/Flickr</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Despite Banksy’s efforts to present himself as a down-to-earth, anti-conformist artist and paint the card company as the “bad guy”, this is more like a David v Goliath story – and Banksy is the giant here. Supported by a raft of experienced corporate lawyers and managers worldwide, his art is an undeniably <a href="https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-6247943/How-DOES-Banksy-earn-money-Secretive-artist-thought-make-millions-year.html">powerful and commercially valuable industry</a>. </p>
<p>Full Colour Black employs three people in a small greetings card business reproducing graffiti artworks including Banksy’s. Exploiting street and graffiti art without artists’ authorisation is certainly a violation of their copyright. Yet, this is not the case with Full Colour Black as it <a href="https://www.facebook.com/notes/full-colour-black/public-statement-release/2557627524344258/">informed</a> Banksy’s representatives that the company wanted to pay him royalties, which he refused. The artist has basically waived his copyright.</p>
<p>If Banksy really wants to keep his registered trademarks, and possibly enforce them against people who exploit them, he’s going to have to start using his brands properly so he can avoid them being revoked and see off other challenges. He may not be happy being forced to cede to consumerist rules, but this is what is required by the very laws that have allowed the registration of his trademarks. Banksy is just going to have to play the game.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/124919/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Enrico Bonadio does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
Forced into selling his own merchandise to stop others doing the same, the artist could end up facing other similar challenges because he trademarks rather than copyrights his artworks.
Enrico Bonadio, Senior Lecturer in Law, City, University of London
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/119437
2019-07-10T12:52:17Z
2019-07-10T12:52:17Z
Graffiti in Cyprus paints a rich and complex picture of this divided society
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/283558/original/file-20190710-44441-ygj8xj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=54%2C392%2C3965%2C2354&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Imagine. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Billy Tusker Haworth.</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>All too often, graffiti is categorised as either <a href="https://repository.law.umich.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1709&context=mjlr">art or vandalism</a>, when in fact it’s so much more than that. When read with special attention, graffiti can offer deep insights into societies experiencing rapid social and political change – especially those marred by recent conflict.</p>
<p>The walls of a city give communities and individuals <a href="https://theculturetrip.com/asia/east-timor/articles/expressing-the-legacy-of-conflict-east-timorese-street-art/">who may not have a formal platform</a> space to share their feelings and opinions, and challenge dominant beliefs or ideals. </p>
<figure class="align-left zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/283384/original/file-20190709-44466-1h77sii.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/283384/original/file-20190709-44466-1h77sii.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/283384/original/file-20190709-44466-1h77sii.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=712&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/283384/original/file-20190709-44466-1h77sii.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=712&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/283384/original/file-20190709-44466-1h77sii.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=712&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/283384/original/file-20190709-44466-1h77sii.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=894&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/283384/original/file-20190709-44466-1h77sii.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=894&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/283384/original/file-20190709-44466-1h77sii.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=894&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Unity in art: piece by local street artist CRS.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Billy Tusker Haworth</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>As researchers interested in societies recovering from disaster or conflict, we recently took a trip to explore graffiti in Cyprus. Cyprus and its capital, Nicosia, have remained divided since 1974, following the Turkish invasion and <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/249706653_The_Cyprus_Conflict_Root_Causes_and_Implications_for_Peacebuilding">ensuing conflict</a>. </p>
<p>The Turkish-Cypriot state in the north (<a href="https://academic.oup.com/ia/article/91/2/267/2199814">recognised only by Turkey</a>) is separated from the internationally-recognised Republic of Cyprus in the south by a UN-controlled buffer zone. </p>
<p>Crossings between the two sides are only permitted through closely monitored checkpoints, leaving the Cypriot people physically, politically and culturally divided.</p>
<p>In places like this, graffiti can both <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/0967088032000057861">reflect and shape</a> community attitudes at a grassroots level. By seriously examining graffiti as a cultural product of such societies, we can better understand these divisions and <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/j.1468-0130.2008.00490.x">work towards peacebuilding</a>. </p>
<h2>The power of graffiti</h2>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/283389/original/file-20190709-44441-u78bmi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/283389/original/file-20190709-44441-u78bmi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/283389/original/file-20190709-44441-u78bmi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=730&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/283389/original/file-20190709-44441-u78bmi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=730&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/283389/original/file-20190709-44441-u78bmi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=730&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/283389/original/file-20190709-44441-u78bmi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=917&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/283389/original/file-20190709-44441-u78bmi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=917&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/283389/original/file-20190709-44441-u78bmi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=917&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A tribute to Biggie at the now-demolished 5 Pointz site in New York City.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/tais/2481569269/">Taís Melillo/Flickr.</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Graffiti encompasses a wide variety of motivations and styles: anything from <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/14427591.2008.9686614?casa_token=UQG4qnxpZvEAAAAA:aM1wyqBO5-_p5WtjfYpq3GonZ0hbS98a8wWwA5F_7Z0zXoQmmz_Gk1R3oi4NJrmFmOWS7IBvRTz24Zw">tagging</a> to more artistic forms of expression like <a href="https://www.productcare.org/about/blog/importance-of-community-murals/">murals</a>. Research has investigated how graffiti can be a channel for <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/soc4.12036?casa_token=xN2EeaGjA7EAAAAA%3AsqQv6cdJ_CdGj7-UyleKYT8DN-TMonNpD2B6RKFUKRaJNpGjSa6Dza3KWA5PfErtQgvk8SgorKLWzFBQ">political participation</a> and <a href="https://theconversation.com/street-art-personal-creations-get-political-with-public-messaging-115945">informal education</a>. It’s a medium widely associated with urban subcultures formed around <a href="https://www.artsy.net/article/artsy-editorial-hip-hop-punk-rise-graffiti-1980s-new-york">punk</a>, <a href="https://urbanario.es/en/articulo/what-does-graffiti-have-to-do-with-hip-hop/">hip-hop</a> and <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-22551669">skateboarding</a> along with many other social movements over the decades.</p>
<p>Views about the value of graffiti <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10610-015-9288-4">can vary</a> just as widely. Authorities, artists and members of the public tend to take different stances, which can also depend on context, content and style. Graffiti has sometimes been linked to <a href="https://www.newscientist.com/article/dn16096-graffiti-and-litter-lead-to-more-street-crime/">social disorder and decline</a>, but it can also <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/cities/2015/jan/07/urban-graffiti-force-good-evil">add cultural value</a> or in some cases lead to <a href="https://theconversation.com/artwashing-gentrification-is-a-problem-but-vilifying-the-artists-involved-is-not-the-answer-83739">“artwashing”</a> and gentrification. Certainly, it has the power to influence the character of a place, and <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/256972438_Spatio-temporal_analysis_of_graffiti_occurrence_in_an_inner-city_urban_environment">change urban landscapes over time</a>. </p>
<p>When searching for meaning in graffiti, we must look at its form and content. For example, pieces of plain writing may initially seem quite simple, but things like <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/14790710802390186">language choices can be telling</a>. </p>
<p>In Nicosia, Turkish and Greek messages were painted with meaning for each respective “inside” group, while English was used to address a wider, international audience. So language choice is indirectly related to the ethno-nationalist conflict, and acts as an informal commentary on people’s experiences of the city.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/283380/original/file-20190709-44437-1u7cy0w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/283380/original/file-20190709-44437-1u7cy0w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=419&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/283380/original/file-20190709-44437-1u7cy0w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=419&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/283380/original/file-20190709-44437-1u7cy0w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=419&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/283380/original/file-20190709-44437-1u7cy0w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=527&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/283380/original/file-20190709-44437-1u7cy0w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=527&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/283380/original/file-20190709-44437-1u7cy0w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=527&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">‘Solidarity to every migrant worker’.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Billy Tusker Haworth.</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Inevitably, we saw many references to division and conflict in the graffiti of Nicosia. But we also saw pieces related to local gang tags, local politics, anti-sexism and the patriarchy, racism, migrant worker rights, refugees, consumerism, veganism and LGBTIQ+ inclusion – among other topics. </p>
<p>This suggests local people are seeing beyond the past conflict in their daily lives. But it also suggests existing formal platforms for these issues to be addressed may not be effective or leave some feeling disillusioned. So people turn to city walls.</p>
<h2>Making a statement</h2>
<p>Larger scale murals across Cyprus are beautifully and skilfully painted – and equally interesting. In war-torn, damaged urban landscapes, they can be seen as an attempt to make the spaces more aesthetically appealing or to make a larger statement. These are often commissioned, and are even incorporated into official peacebuilding initiatives, art festivals and <a href="https://theconversation.com/graffiti-is-an-eye-catching-way-to-create-lively-spaces-in-cities-114522">tourism strategies</a>. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/283378/original/file-20190709-44448-1j7cg4z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/283378/original/file-20190709-44448-1j7cg4z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=373&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/283378/original/file-20190709-44448-1j7cg4z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=373&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/283378/original/file-20190709-44448-1j7cg4z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=373&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/283378/original/file-20190709-44448-1j7cg4z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=469&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/283378/original/file-20190709-44448-1j7cg4z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=469&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/283378/original/file-20190709-44448-1j7cg4z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=469&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A Nepali mother and child. Mural by local street artist Paparazzi.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Billy Tusker Haworth.</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>A mural in the southern city of Limassol, depicting a Nepali woman and her child, was painted shortly after the 2015 earthquake; unrelated to the Cypriot conflict itself, it affirms that Cypriot artists are outward-looking and aware of turmoil beyond their own borders (<a href="https://www.politico.eu/article/northern-ireland-troubles-legacy-good-friday-agreement/">not always common in conflict zones</a>).</p>
<p>Symbols are commonly used in street art across the world to deliver powerful political statements instantly. Internationally recognised symbols make a visual connection to transnational communities, ideologies and movements. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/283496/original/file-20190710-44472-16483ow.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=894%2C715%2C2391%2C1562&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/283496/original/file-20190710-44472-16483ow.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/283496/original/file-20190710-44472-16483ow.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/283496/original/file-20190710-44472-16483ow.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/283496/original/file-20190710-44472-16483ow.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/283496/original/file-20190710-44472-16483ow.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/283496/original/file-20190710-44472-16483ow.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A fragile peace.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Billy Tusker Haworth.</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In Nicosia, common symbols included the Communist hammer and sickle, the Anarchist symbol, the <a href="https://cnduk.org/the-symbol/">peace sign</a>, doves, gender signs and even swastikas. These symbols have broad, universal meanings attached to them so that no matter where the audience is from (Cyprus receives more than <a href="https://www.cyprusprofile.com/en/sectors/tourism/">3m tourists per year</a>), the message is understood.</p>
<h2>Location matters</h2>
<p>Where graffiti is painted also tells a significant story: we saw that location influenced both the amount and the content of graffiti. The old city of Nicosia has lots of buffer zone walls and barriers, and a border crossing on the main shopping thoroughfare. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/283502/original/file-20190710-44441-1x1m4ea.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C1398%2C3014%2C1987&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/283502/original/file-20190710-44441-1x1m4ea.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C1398%2C3014%2C1987&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/283502/original/file-20190710-44441-1x1m4ea.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/283502/original/file-20190710-44441-1x1m4ea.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/283502/original/file-20190710-44441-1x1m4ea.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/283502/original/file-20190710-44441-1x1m4ea.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/283502/original/file-20190710-44441-1x1m4ea.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/283502/original/file-20190710-44441-1x1m4ea.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">‘Your wall cannot divide us’.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Billy Tusker Haworth.</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The areas closest to crossings contained mostly English language messages, explicitly about the conflict. Further away from the buffer zone, we observed less graffiti, and the messages become more varied. </p>
<p>We can speculate, then, that the division might have a greater influence on daily life, the closer people are to the dividing wall. This highly contextual insight has the potential to enhance our understanding of the unique experiences of local people in conflict-affected zones. </p>
<p>Our early investigations of graffiti have already told us much about life in conflict-affected Cyprus. Clearly, the importance of graffiti should not be overlooked: it can open a window into the lives and minds of many people, who might otherwise lack a voice. </p>
<p><em>This work is being presented at the <a href="https://www.coventry.ac.uk/research/about-us/research-events/2019/advancing-peace-geographies/">Advancing Peace Geographies conference</a> at Coventry University on July 15, 2019.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/119437/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
Take a fresh look at graffiti: even seemingly simple scribbles can hold political and social significance.
Billy Tusker Haworth, Lecturer in GIS and Disaster Management, University of Manchester
Catherine Arthur, Lecturer in Peace and Conflict Studies, University of Manchester
Eric Lepp, Senior Tutor in Humanitarian Studies, University of Manchester
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/115945
2019-06-06T21:26:39Z
2019-06-06T21:26:39Z
Street art: Personal creations get political with public messaging
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/277419/original/file-20190531-69071-1lala02.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Street art can complement formal classroom learning. Here, 'No more pipelines' mural by the artist Swarm in Montréal.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Anna Augosto Rodrigues)</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>I stopped in my tracks, shocked by something I saw in a Montréal laneway window that had been boarded up in the city’s Plateau neighbourhood. I was looking at caged chickens, with no space to move, one with a tear on the side of its eye. The chickens were behind actual bars that were part of the window with the word “FULL.” </p>
<p>I was looking at street art. The message this piece was conveying about animal cruelty was loud, clear and unforgettable. Here was a very example of the type of art my research focuses on: pieces that promote public dialogue on social justice and can lead to opportunities for learning outside of formal schooling. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/277759/original/file-20190603-69091-1d0tone.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/277759/original/file-20190603-69091-1d0tone.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=451&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/277759/original/file-20190603-69091-1d0tone.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=451&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/277759/original/file-20190603-69091-1d0tone.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=451&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/277759/original/file-20190603-69091-1d0tone.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=567&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/277759/original/file-20190603-69091-1d0tone.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=567&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/277759/original/file-20190603-69091-1d0tone.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=567&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Art by Kat in Montréal.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Anna Rodrigues)</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>I call it “pop-up pedagogy” because the learning is not planned or structured, it just happens. The <a href="https://yorkspace.library.yorku.ca/xmlui/handle/10315/34971">research I conducted for my dissertation</a> looked at how street art creates potential spontaneous learning in public spaces, and how it can have a role fostering awareness and conversations within communities. </p>
<h2>Low literacy, high impact</h2>
<p>Looking at street art through an educational lens can be especially important in areas with populations with low literacy, <a href="https://eric.ed.gov/?id=EJ910961">as seen in a study conducted in São Paulo, Brazil</a>. </p>
<p>The <a href="https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/pub/75-006-x/2016001/article/14322-eng.htm">impacts of living with low literacy</a> are far-reaching and can affect every aspect of a person’s life. This art form <a href="https://scholarworks.gsu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1027&context=english_facpub">seems to foster discussion</a> allowing those who are marginalized to have their voices heard. It also offers widespread messaging to reach people who may otherwise be excluded from mainstream literacy or media. </p>
<p>My awareness of the power of street art and imagery is something I came to through living with low literacy in my teens and early twenties. When I was 11, my parents moved back to Portugal, where they were from. I spoke solely English but was enrolled in a Portuguese-only school. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/276659/original/file-20190527-193544-269dci.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/276659/original/file-20190527-193544-269dci.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=398&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/276659/original/file-20190527-193544-269dci.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=398&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/276659/original/file-20190527-193544-269dci.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=398&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/276659/original/file-20190527-193544-269dci.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=500&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/276659/original/file-20190527-193544-269dci.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=500&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/276659/original/file-20190527-193544-269dci.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=500&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Street art creates alternative spaces of learning. Here, the author at Camp 30, Bowmanville, Ont.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Anna Augusto Rodrigues)</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>I struggled and I dropped out of school at age 16. I would visually “read” things all around me in order to make meaning without the need to read words. Eventually I made my way back to formal schooling. However, that struggle of not being able to communicate effectively, <a href="https://abclifeliteracy.ca/workplace-literacy-facts">something which affects thousands of Canadians</a>, stayed with me and developed into a passion to study street art through an educational lens. </p>
<h2>Batman Alley can also be a classroom</h2>
<p>Street art can complement formal classroom learning and teaching when
it is part of experiential education that purposefully engages with students <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/105382590502800205">through intentional reflection on concrete experience</a> to discern values and increase knowledge.</p>
<p>In spring of 2017, I travelled to São Paulo, Brazil to <a href="https://news.uoit.ca/archives/2017/09/university-and-college-students-learn-how-poverty-affects-education-access.php">participate in co-teaching a field course on social justice </a>to 20 Canadian students. We visited Beco do Batman (Batman Alley), an area known for its abundant street art. While there, two students and I began a conversation about a particular piece we found. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/276658/original/file-20190527-193549-19tw832.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/276658/original/file-20190527-193549-19tw832.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=460&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/276658/original/file-20190527-193549-19tw832.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=460&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/276658/original/file-20190527-193549-19tw832.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=460&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/276658/original/file-20190527-193549-19tw832.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=579&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/276658/original/file-20190527-193549-19tw832.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=579&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/276658/original/file-20190527-193549-19tw832.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=579&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Beco do Batman (Batman Alley) in São Paulo, Brazil, is known for abundant street art.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Unknown street artist via Anna Augusto Rodrigues)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Were we looking at a commentary on the destruction of the natural world? Was it a conversation about Indigenous rights? Or could it be a creation story explaining the origins of the world?</p>
<p>The art didn’t have words to help decode its message but we debated its meaning by connecting it back to the issues we were exploring in the course — like environmental problems in the Amazon caused by a string of governments who were putting profit before people.</p>
<p>We didn’t come to an agreement but we furthered our understanding on some of the social justice themes we had been studying. As an instructor, I was able to <a href="https://eric.ed.gov/?id=EJ968046">model a process of lifelong learning</a> that education researchers know can be critical for inviting learners into growth <a href="http://www.journalofeducationalinformatics.ca/2010/09/23/empowering-adult-learners/">or empowerment</a>.</p>
<p>It’s that thirst for knowledge and wider discussions that leads me to continue photographing street art and exploring how it can be part of widespread learning. With the nicer weather upon us, it’s time for me to grab my camera and wander the streets.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/115945/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Anna Augusto Rodrigues does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
Street art promotes public dialogue on social justice issues and can lead to opportunities for learning outside of formal schooling.
Anna Augusto Rodrigues, Contract Instructor, Child and Youth Studies, Trent University
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/116031
2019-05-24T10:52:00Z
2019-05-24T10:52:00Z
Banksy: graffiti has become more valuable for what it is than what it says
<p>On the side of a garage in Port Talbot, south Wales, a <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2018/dec/19/banksy-port-talbot-mural-south-wales">new Banksy artwork appeared</a>. The piece, titled “Season’s Greetings”, very quickly brought thousands of visitors to the town. And by January 2019 there was so much interest in it that art dealer John Brandler paid a “<a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-46910294">six-figure sum</a>” for the graffiti. </p>
<p>The decision to sell the Banksy sparked some controversy, with the most prominent concern being that Brandler <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2019/apr/30/banksy-artwork-port-talbot-seasons-greeetings-welsh-steel-town">would take the work away</a> from Port Talbot, removing a valuable tourist draw. But Brandler has <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-48184287">moved the work</a> to a new Street Art Museum (SAM) in the town, alongside works by other famous street artists such as Blek le Rat and Pure Evil. He has guaranteed its exhibition there for the next three years and even promised locals free entry. </p>
<p>Residents were happy, but a few still wondered if graffiti or street art belongs in a museum at all. Some say that privatising street art is counter to the nature of the form, that graffiti in a museum is like a tiger in a cage. </p>
<p>Sure, street art can still be powerful and beautiful in a gallery, but an essential piece of it is lost by disconnecting it from its natural setting and locking it in a confined and controlled space. But Brandler owned the work, and wanted it as a centrepiece for SAM, which will attract visitors, so in it went. </p>
<p>Season’s Greetings depicts a small boy with a sledge dressed in winter attire looking up sticking his tongue out to catch what appear to be falling snowflakes. The other half of the image – painted around a corner – depicts a dumpster fire emitting smoke and ash. The corner is the key, asserting on the viewer how unaware the boy is of his predicament. </p>
<p>It has been photographed and posted hundreds of times since it was painted, but most tellingly <a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/BrkqwhnlNjR/">on Banksy’s Instagram feed</a>. There it’s pictured with the <a href="https://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/wales-news/truth-behind-port-talbot-banksy-15608628">local steelworks looming behind</a>, making an allusion that the piece is a commentary on Port Talbot’s air pollution. The town’s levels of one type of particulate matter (PM10) are among the <a href="https://airqualitynews.com/2018/05/08/who-amends-figures-after-port-talbot-pm2-5-data-error/">highest in the country</a>, and this has been <a href="http://www.procurement.wales.nhs.uk/40330.file.dld">largely attributed</a> to emissions from the steelworks. Although it must be noted that in recent months owner Tata Steel has pledged to <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-47145258">introduce new measures</a> to reduce emissions from the site.</p>
<p><div data-react-class="InstagramEmbed" data-react-props="{"url":"https://www.instagram.com/p/BrkqwhnlNjR","accessToken":"127105130696839|b4b75090c9688d81dfd245afe6052f20"}"></div></p>
<h2>Spectacle value</h2>
<p>The debate over whether artworks like this should be moved and placed in museums is overshadowed by the prestige and prosperity that possessing a Banksy can bring to a city, and the associated tourism money that comes with it. But sociologically speaking Banksy’s work is valuable for two reasons. First, because people pay attention to it. French philosopher Guy Debord wrote about <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2012/mar/30/guy-debord-society-spectacle">the “society of the spectacle”</a> in 1967 but his ideas are very relevant to Banksy today. Debord would say Banksy’s value is achieved through the attention his work receives, and how that collective attention reflects off his art and back onto the audience as evidence that the work is inherently valuable. Simply put, people paying sufficient attention to a Banksy (or indeed any artwork) makes it a spectacle, which grants it legitimate commercial value. </p>
<p>But Banksy’s work also has value because of something essential – what sociologist Howard Becker would call its “maverick” qualities. Mavericks, Becker says, are those who push the boundaries of their forms and expand conventions. Banksy is a maverick in both the graffiti and conventional art worlds, expanding what graffiti can be and say, and pushing the boundaries of what conventional art can look like. As such his work has intrinsic, innovative value as well as commercial value. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/276097/original/file-20190523-187147-p3fj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/276097/original/file-20190523-187147-p3fj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/276097/original/file-20190523-187147-p3fj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/276097/original/file-20190523-187147-p3fj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/276097/original/file-20190523-187147-p3fj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/276097/original/file-20190523-187147-p3fj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/276097/original/file-20190523-187147-p3fj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The value of Banksy’s work comes in part from people paying attention to it.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/port-talbot-west-wales-december-20th-1263167128?src=2PqdHzfMdYyuCgmFI4wigw-1-0">i shootstock/Shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>While this is valid motivation for privately exhibiting the work, using the Banksy as a tourist draw does little more than commodify it and reduce its value to who produced it. Commodifying it says “this is a Banksy, it is important and valuable because it is a Banksy, and as such it is worth you paying to see it in person”. But this framing of the work imposes itself in a way that obscures the graffiti’s unambiguous and conspicuous message. The commercial value of the Banksy, its privileged place in a museum, and the security protecting it all tell the observer that it is precious for what it is and who produced it, not what it says. Its legitimacy and authority are byproducts of its exchange value and not its social commentary. </p>
<p>The Port Talbot Banksy’s commentary, though open to interpretation, is that the harms of pollution are suffered the most by those who are the least responsible for the conditions, the most vulnerable to them, and the least aware of them – children. If the town’s pollution is not dealt with the town’s children will be the ones who suffer its effects. But promoting this message is not in the town’s financial interests. It is shrewder to promote the fact that there is an exclusive and expensive work by counterculture icon and provocateur Banksy on display; come and pay to see it. But how many visitors will think much about what Banksy may be saying, or about why it showed up specifically in Port Talbot?</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/116031/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Tyson Mitman does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
As the Port Talbot Banksy is moved to a new street art museum, the very reason it was created is being ignored.
Tyson Mitman, Lecturer in Sociology and Criminology, York St John University
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/114522
2019-04-08T14:07:38Z
2019-04-08T14:07:38Z
Graffiti is an eye-catching way to create lively spaces in cities
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/268051/original/file-20190408-2909-9k43qd.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=24%2C404%2C4007%2C2613&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Graffiti in Maboneng, Johannesburg provides a bright contrast to the spaces around it.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Alexandra Parker</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Whether it’s tagging (the stylised writing of an individual or crew’s name), posters, stickers, installations, murals or mosaics, graffiti has always been a contentious issue. Countries like the <a href="https://www.co.washington.or.us/Sheriff/OtherServices/GangsGraffiti/graffiti-eradication.cfm">US</a>, UK and Australia have adopted aggressive – and <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/j.1467-9906.2012.00610.x">expensive</a> – strategies to try and eradicate graffiti.</p>
<p>But not all cities view graffiti as a bad thing. Over the past few decades, it’s increasingly become <a href="https://medium.com/@Emilyfellows/graffiti-as-a-canvas-for-popular-culture-ce15350c4140">part of mainstream culture</a>. Some places have actively promoted graffiti and encouraged artists to work in public spaces. Others, like Bogota in Colombia, have introduced legislation that aims <a href="https://thebogotapost.com/graffiti-in-bogota-urban-art-versus-conservation/23666/">to promote</a> the responsible and legal practice of graffiti. In Singapore, the state has <a href="https://www.academia.edu/37227127/Spacing_Beyond_the_Lines_Graffitis_Place_in_the_Singapore_City_State">designated specific surfaces</a> for graffiti.</p>
<p>Johannesburg, South Africa’s most populous metro, takes a dim view of graffiti. In 2016, Mayor Herman Mashaba <a href="https://mg.co.za/article/2016-11-01-00-graffiti-and-the-legal-bid-to-erase-public-art-histories">declared</a> that he would eradicate graffiti through stricter bylaws to create an “investor-friendly environment” in the city. His stance is arguably at odds with the City of Johannesburg’s policies on <a href="http://wiredspace.wits.ac.za/handle/10539/17150">urban redevelopment</a>. These rely on programmes that support public art and promote tourism opportunities.</p>
<p>We and our colleagues at the <a href="http://www.gcro.ac.za/about/about-the-gcro">Gauteng City-Region Observatory</a> wanted to know the contribution made by graffiti to tourism and the public environment in the inner-city of Johannesburg. The Observatory is an independent research organisation which generates data and analysis to help inform development and decision making in the Gauteng City-region. So we undertook a <a href="http://gcro.ac.za/outputs/occasional-papers/">study of graffiti in Maboneng</a>, a precinct in Johannesburg’s inner city that’s undergoing urban renewal.</p>
<p>Using the case study of <a href="http://www.mabonengprecinct.com/">Maboneng</a>, the research demonstrates that graffiti has been leveraged in nurturing urban development, creative economies and tourism in the inner-city. This means it has aesthetic value in the urban environment. The research shows that graffiti contributes to place-making by creating meaningful or identifiable spaces that tolerate public participation through the medium of graffiti.</p>
<h2>Graffiti in Maboneng</h2>
<p>The Maboneng precinct began in 2009 with the completion of the “Arts on Main” building, an artists’ space in a renovated industrial building. Over the last decade, Maboneng has become an iconic example of how investing in “creative spaces”, “creative industries” and “creative tourism” can be used to drive urban renewal of previously disused or derelict urban environments. </p>
<p>Maboneng’s developers have created a strong public and street art presence, both physically and digitally. In fact, graffiti forms part of the developers’ strategy for reinvigorating the area. The area now boasts several large-scale murals produced through street art festivals and artistic commissions. It’s also attracted significant attention from graffiti artists. All of this contributes to Maboneng’s aesthetic identity and is one of the elements that draws tourists to the area.</p>
<p>In our research we used photographs of graffiti to document, locate and map its presence within the precinct. Graffiti here refers to a spectrum, from tagging to elaborate pieces with a focus on stylised words and text. </p>
<p>Through visual and spatial analysis, we were able to demonstrate that graffiti has aesthetic value. It signifies the redevelopment of the neighbourhood, distinguishes the area from surrounding spaces, and projects a global aesthetic similar to that seen in places like Hell’s Kitchen, New York; the east end of London or Bogota, Colombia.</p>
<p>Notably, the mapping showed how tagging, accompanies both redevelopment and commissioned street art. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/267348/original/file-20190403-177163-emxnrp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/267348/original/file-20190403-177163-emxnrp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=416&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/267348/original/file-20190403-177163-emxnrp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=416&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/267348/original/file-20190403-177163-emxnrp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=416&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/267348/original/file-20190403-177163-emxnrp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=522&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/267348/original/file-20190403-177163-emxnrp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=522&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/267348/original/file-20190403-177163-emxnrp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=522&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Tags and public art.</span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Large murals were incorporated into the architecture of renovated buildings. These murals were frequently accompanied by other forms of graffiti such as tagging, posters or stickers. Graffiti was present in the precinct even where buildings or public space had been upgraded. This reflects Maboneng’s tolerance for types of graffiti that are more frequently viewed as undesirable. </p>
<p>We also examined the visibility of graffiti murals in Maboneng. The location of a graffiti piece is a conscious decision: graffiti artists aim to express their views in the public realm and gain more recognition and respect based on the reach of their work. </p>
<p>We mapped the reach of the murals on high rise buildings in Maboneng, and found that many could be seen for several hundred metres down streets – and, in some cases, beyond the boundaries of Maboneng itself. The murals announce the branding and identity of the area for the public and thus aid in making the Maboneng precinct more visible and inviting.</p>
<h2>Navigating the city</h2>
<p>Our research shows that graffiti has been used to create a strong brand for Maboneng and is a form of advertising that extends beyond the immediate neighbourhood boundaries. </p>
<p>Graffiti has been used as a form of way-finding or navigation, where buildings become unique landmarks in the landscape. It is through these elements that the value of graffiti is being realised in Maboneng. </p>
<p>Graffiti is creating a distinctive precinct within Johannesburg and, simultaneously, a familiar global aesthetic of the creative neighbourhood. The presence of graffiti in Maboneng has not detracted from its value in terms of urban renewal. This means that Maboneng provides an alternative management approach, which should be further investigated. </p>
<p><em><a href="https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Samkelisiwe_Khanyile">Samkelisiwe Khanyile</a>, a junior researcher with the GCRO, contributed to this article.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/114522/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The Gauteng City-Region Observatory is funded primarily through a grant from the Gauteng Provincial Government.</span></em></p>
Graffiti contributes to place-making by creating meaningful or identifiable spaces.
Alexandra Parker, Researcher of urban & cultural studies, Gauteng City-Region Observatory
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/110400
2019-02-07T16:06:16Z
2019-02-07T16:06:16Z
Street artists are joining the fight to save the environment
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/257716/original/file-20190207-174857-a3my2y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C92%2C1080%2C795&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">'Vhils', a Portuguese street artist, chisels an endangered orangutan onto a wall in the city of Medan, Indonesia.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.instagram.com/p/BhjRXqKFdaw/">splashandburn / instagram</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>In these times of rising <a href="https://www.equaltimes.org/climate-change-civil-society-steps?lang=en#.XDrw9c_7Q6g">activism on climate change and other environmental threats</a>, a new band of campaigners has joined the fight: street artists. And these artists are using the landscape, communities and social media to spread their message.</p>
<p>Banksy, probably the most famous street artist in the world, recently made his views clear through a <a href="https://theconversation.com/banksy-who-should-foot-the-bill-to-protect-his-work-in-public-spaces-109831">new piece</a> in Wales featuring a boy under what looks like snow, but is actually pollution from an industrial bin.</p>
<p><div data-react-class="InstagramEmbed" data-react-props="{"url":"https://www.instagram.com/p/BrkqwhnlNjR","accessToken":"127105130696839|b4b75090c9688d81dfd245afe6052f20"}"></div></p>
<p>Banksy has always been overtly political and controversial, but this was a clear environmental message in an area which is home to one of the <a href="https://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/wales-news/truth-behind-port-talbot-banksy-15608628">largest steelworks</a> in Europe. The image was displayed in the news and on social media across the globe.</p>
<p>Through his use of a child, Banksy’s piece echoes the work of another street artist, Ernest Zacharevic, who reached international fame in 2012 with his two street murals <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/guardianwitness-blog/gallery/2013/oct/25/graffiti-around-the-world-best-photos">little children on a bike</a> and <a href="https://www.google.com/search?q=zacharevic+kid+on+a+motorcycle&tbm=isch&source=iu&ictx=1&fir=o_GI7EHkv83UNM%253A%252C6NfFoLQ1vWYlJM%252C_&usg=AI4_-kSWob6lqUH5Tfgrxr_uw0VC9T539g&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjJkcqZlurfAhVOiXAKHXXPDwQQ9QEwAHoECAQQBA#imgrc=CePHexgALdv6QM:">kid on a motorcycle</a> located in the city of George Town, Malaysia.</p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"598793301865734145"}"></div></p>
<p>Like Banksy, Zacharevic’s more recent work was also inspired by environmental pollution. In 2015, a haze of pollution made the air in Malaysia almost unbreathable. Zacharevic’s inquiries led him to learn that that the smoke in the region came <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-indonesia-cant-stamp-out-fires-that-have-cast-a-haze-over-south-east-asia-50029">all the way from Indonesia</a>, caused by unauthorised slash-and-burn techniques used by smallholder farmers to clear the forest to make room for palm oil plantations.</p>
<p>The Lithuania-born artist began to take an interest in the palm oil industry and researched the issue for two years by engaging with local people in Indonesia.</p>
<p>At the same time, <a href="http://theconversation.com/palm-oil-boycott-could-actually-increase-deforestation-sustainable-products-are-the-solution-106733">NGO campaigns</a> in the UK and elsewhere in Europe were trying to alert consumers to how the palm oil industry was destroying the environment and abusing human rights. They also began to collaborate with <a href="https://www.spott.org/news/sustainable-palm-oil-responsible-investment/">UK investors</a> to engage with the urgent sustainability consequences of deforestation, land conflict and labour conditions, and to advocate for a sustainable palm oil industry.</p>
<p>Zacharevic then partnered with the London-based <a href="https://instagram.com/orangutanssos?utm_source=ig_profile_share&igshid=u9bom4lpidnd">Sumatra Orangutan Society</a> and Indonesia-based <a href="https://instagram.com/orangutaninformationcentre?utm_source=ig_profile_share&igshid=hc9lwojfz5v7">Orangutan Information Centre</a> to form the “Splash and Burn” campaign. Its aim was to make people aware of the social and environmental tensions caused by the current practices in the palm oil industry.</p>
<p>In 2017, he discreetly invited a team of <a href="http://www.ernestzacharevic.com/splash-and-burn-2/">international street artists</a> to join him in Indonesia to produce haunting public art pieces in remote villages, natural landscapes and towns. Famous figures in the street art scene were eager to participate in what they saw as a much needed demonstration of <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2017/may/15/splash-and-burn-artists-take-aim-at-sumatra-palm-oil-industry-indonesia-ernest-zacharevic">grassroots art activism</a>. Here, for instance, is noted urban sculpturer Mark Jenkins:</p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"864900972002377728"}"></div></p>
<p>Through different creative and sometimes improvised techniques, the street art collective created awareness of the damage caused by unregulated deforestation. Their action was relayed through their Instagram accounts, personal websites, and online press.</p>
<p><div data-react-class="InstagramEmbed" data-react-props="{"url":"https://www.instagram.com/p/BVH08Qcj6KN/?utm_source=ig_share_sheet\u0026igshid=1mgcm77judv5d","accessToken":"127105130696839|b4b75090c9688d81dfd245afe6052f20"}"></div></p>
<p>Here’s a mural Zacharevic created of an orangutan being chased by fire:</p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"907620337671487488"}"></div></p>
<p>In 2018, Splash and Burn took a turn towards “land art” when Zacharevic and his team drew a giant SOS sign on a 124-acre former palm oil plantation in north Sumatra, Indonesia. The land had just been acquired by the environmentally conscious cosmetics company <a href="https://uk.lush.com/article/meet-artists-splash-and-burn">Lush</a>, which raised funds to replant an indigenous forest. The artists also shot a <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f13GnafX2CQ">short movie</a> to raise global awareness and to connect artists with civil society organisations. </p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1077913189059313664"}"></div></p>
<p>Street artists are becoming more and more internationally and officially recognised for their environmental work. In 2018, Hawaiian-born artist Sean Yoro, who goes by the artist name Hula, made the <a href="https://www.forbes.com/profile/sean-yoro/#60fff3625aff">Forbes “30 under 30” list</a> for his murals, mostly of female faces being submerged in water. His works raise the question of rising sea levels due to climate change.</p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"603029234819452928"}"></div></p>
<p>Street art has typically focused on megacities and urban festivals. But a generation of digitally ultra-connected artists has been encouraged to engage with grassroots campaigners and spread their brushes and spray cans elsewhere – to forests and seas – and to creatively question our relationships to the natural world.</p>
<p>Street artists have recently been criticised for “<a href="https://theconversation.com/the-artists-dilemma-what-constitutes-selling-out-50696">selling out</a>” to big companies for taking on commissioned work, without showing any critical awareness of the social impact of these big companies. Yet these examples of climate activist street art shows artists can actually bring an alternative and responsible message to the public through their work.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/110400/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Stephanie Giamporcaro receives funding from Nottingham Trent University under the Global Heritage Research Theme’s Funding Scheme to conduct research on preserving heritage through street art. This piece was ignited by our conversations with artist Ernest Zacharevic who curated the Splash and Burn project, Splash and Burn fellow artists Bibichun and Gabriel Pitcher and street art promoter Tan Chor Whye. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>George Kuk receives funding from Nottingham Trent University under the Global Heritage Research Theme's Funding Scheme to conduct research on preserving heritage through street art. </span></em></p>
Banksy’s ‘boy in falling snow/pollution’ is part of a worldwide movement of artistic activism against environmental problems and climate change.
Stephanie Giamporcaro, Associate Professor, Sustainable Finance, University of Nottingham Trent & University of Cape Town, Nottingham Trent University
George Kuk, Professor of Innovation and Entrepreneurship, Nottingham Trent University
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/100232
2018-08-23T16:42:36Z
2018-08-23T16:42:36Z
Academia in the mirror of street art: back to a recent walk in Paris
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/228306/original/file-20180718-142432-l00bre.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C41%2C1200%2C804&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/_fabrizio_/15933283706/in/photolist-qgYf93-5m1R4U-eMAQ3N-M7Pjw-dz7QYo-25KNYU9-5ikCJg-4HGLgW-8Vcjsy-4duU4N-8SkaLF-279LZF4-6ByY4L-e572Kp-q9U7Rw-5kWyYV-5kPg75-7waM45-EPKDv-cmb28E-4tRoJv-ECt5Z-5kJZXt-rX1Lb-5kK1gF-4yqYf5-6L32ey-5z3upE-mVV5c-5m1QYf-a7Qsgo-pD4sMC-bCWoQ5-cCdaVq-5kJZPZ-bHNyYD-6V6u3N-bnz8Cj-c35xGU-6cMSuz-Gmr4HS-amUFrW-3cCFiy-a54Kbk-7waMvu-dhQmBu-8SaiMY-A42gLP-dqc7gG-8kBx3R">Fabrizio Sciami/Flickr</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>This was a rainy day in Paris. On June 14, an alternative academic network (<a href="https://collaborativespacesstudy.wordpress.com/">RGCS</a>) organised a great learning expedition about street art in the 13th district (“arrondissement”) of Paris. This <a href="http://blogs.lse.ac.uk/impactofsocialsciences/2017/08/30/toward-more-integrative-research-practices-introducing-open-walked-event-based-experimentations/">Open Walked Event-Based Experimentation</a> (OWEE) was an opportunity to mix academics with entrepreneurs and street artists. A group of 20 people thus walked in the grey and cold streets of Paris this day. The context helped us to realize how coloured and warm street art can be!</p>
<p>We started with a meeting point and a first discussion at the town hall of the 13th arrondissement. The deputy major explained us the history and context of street art here. We then walked around from one point to another (see the hashtag #oweesa and our <a href="https://www.facebook.com/pg/collspaces/photos/?tab=album&album_id=463138857472414">album</a>) before the final destination at <a href="http://les-frigos.com/">les Frigos</a>.</p>
<h2>The street as art</h2>
<p>In this article, I want to focus on an encounter which took place during this expedition, one of this moment where something happens, where and when we are obviously here, in the situation. It was the planned encounter of the street artist <a href="http://www.lor-k.com/">Lor-K</a> in an inner court. We were all seated here, in the cold. Actually, it was raining. Lor-K, a young woman Parisian street artist, stood in front of us, with a cardboard next to her. I will never know what it was for. Suddenly, all the meaning of an OWEE became obvious to me. The possible “mirror effect” for researchers was there.</p>
<p>We are animals of the inside! We are mainly seated, covered, protected, involved in ritualistic environments such as meetings, seminars, courses, PhD defenses, data collection… Here, I felt clearly outside, with someone looking at my “inside”. My all world is an “inside”, made of activities defining the inside from the outside, and staying in the inside. Lor-K recycles waste, rubbish and bulky on site. Her all world is made of what the inside does not need anymore. She stays courageously on the street, works on the street, includes art in and on street, not from the street or the horizon. She creates beauty in an unexpected way and makes rubbishes nice in an ephemeral way.</p>
<p>Here comes another key temporal difference: I spend the bulk of my time trying to build things made to last, or rather, that I expect will last a little bit. She explained us that she never sells her art. She wants to keep the integrity of it. She sells narratives about her work: pictures in exhibitions, books, articles, activities on social media. She creates continuity and durability with the narrative itself. On my side, I realise I keep settling ephemerality and discontinuity with my individual and collective narratives…</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/228307/original/file-20180718-142438-132fsrx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/228307/original/file-20180718-142438-132fsrx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=452&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/228307/original/file-20180718-142438-132fsrx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=452&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/228307/original/file-20180718-142438-132fsrx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=452&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/228307/original/file-20180718-142438-132fsrx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=568&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/228307/original/file-20180718-142438-132fsrx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=568&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/228307/original/file-20180718-142438-132fsrx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=568&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"><em>Paris Street; Rainy Day</em>, by Gustave Caillebotte (1877).</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/mark6mauno/3780104038/in/photolist-6L32ey-5z3upE-mVV5c-5m1QYf-a7Qsgo-pD4sMC-bCWoQ5-cCdaVq-5kJZPZ-bHNyYD-6V6u3N-bnz8Cj-c35xGU-6cMSuz-Gmr4HS-amUFrW-3cCFiy-a54Kbk-7waMvu-dhQmBu-8SaiMY-A42gLP-dqc7gG-8kBx3R-SJ5v44-6eUizi-9GENfF-7x5cCp-d7NMFs-nGeQhY-T4n1rB-7V2cDe-4ymHEB-ajdiUy-ah6BCJ-5bQQJz-6H6kPX-ah3PVp-4TRgTm-dje6Sv-7eXbHD-hiijHx-2DwUWk-dqc7rE-c35zHW-6V2j1e-dwP5Xi-hiicDH-9VNzjM-rX1JN">Flickr</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Alone together</h2>
<p>Lastly, Lor-K told us about her loneliness. Her purposeful, chosen loneliness. She preferred to work alone, it’s more effective. At least for the concrete part (maybe not for the narrative part…). She was alone in the middle of us. She is alone in the middle of the city. Street artists are “alone together”, like entrepreneurs, and maybe also like many academics. This is not my case with RGCS and all these great people interested in alternative things. I think precisely the all OWEE narrative is about breaking the numerous waves that fragment academia, and to produce (with numerous other initiatives) more synchronicity and duration for our work. This is about re-creating powerful collective narratives for academia, shared collective narratives likely to be more transformative and relevant for the City.</p>
<p>But at some point, the place was so cold. I was happy to come back to my indoor, bounding world. At least for a moment.</p>
<p>Just a last thought before coming back to my safe, protected world. <a href="http://blogs.lse.ac.uk/impactofsocialsciences/2017/08/30/toward-more-integrative-research-practices-introducing-open-walked-event-based-experimentations/">OWEE</a> is about alternating, encountering, walking, narrating, and reflecting. Third-places and collaborative spaces are beautiful levers and contexts to create discontinuities. But I realize more and more that street art, art at large, and all the aesthetic, cultural and historical places of the city I’m not used to cross, can play the same role.</p>
<p>To be continued…</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/100232/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>François-Xavier de Vaujany is president of the Research Group on Collaborative Spaces (RGCS) an alternative academic network and think tank devoted to new work practices</span></em></p>
A rainy day and a meeting with a street artist lead to a mediation on the “mirror effect” for researchers.
François-Xavier de Vaujany, Professeur, PSL-Université Paris-Dauphine (DRM), Université Paris Dauphine – PSL
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/100583
2018-08-01T04:25:05Z
2018-08-01T04:25:05Z
When Trump comes to Australia, let’s hope protesters get more creative than the baby blimp
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/230147/original/file-20180801-136652-ut39wu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Trump Baby flies over Parliament Square in July during President Trump's visit to the UK.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Andy Rain/EPA</span></span></figcaption></figure><p><a href="https://www.theguardian.com/global/video/2018/jul/13/the-moment-trump-baby-blimp-lifts-off-video">Trump Baby</a> is President Donald Trump’s highest-profile troll. During his recent UK visit, the airborne infant protested alongside tens of thousands of marchers against current US policies. While Trump’s itinerary was carefully choreographed to avoid protesters, his nappy-clad inflatable caricature was embraced by crowds on the streets and watching from afar. Now there is speculation that the baby blimp <a href="https://www.sbs.com.au/news/trump-baby-blimp-could-be-coming-to-australia">will come to Australia</a> for Trump’s expected visit here later this year.</p>
<p>Trump Baby critiques the president not from a political or moral standpoint, but at the level of ego. It is designed to embarrass and humiliate him. Baby’s makers <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/global/video/2018/jun/28/fragile-like-the-presidents-ego-trump-baby-blimp-prepares-for-takeoff">believe such an insult has a better chance of hitting its target</a> than political arguments, which Trump is seemingly impervious to. Indeed Trump complained that the balloon made him feel “<a href="https://www.advocate.com/politics/2018/7/14/trump-baby-blimp-makes-me-feel-unwelcome">unwelcome</a>”. Bullseye! </p>
<p>Trump Baby quickly went viral, demonstrating that while art cannot necessarily change the world, it can harness to great effect the zeitgeist of cultural sentiment. Yet in these times of political uncertainty, creative people need to step up to the challenge of not simply mirroring the issues and concerns of the day, but of providing new ways of thinking about the world and its problems. This opportunity was largely missed with the Trump blimp. </p>
<p>While grotesque, giant inflatables have a place in social protest – the <a href="https://www.afr.com/business/scabby-deflated-by-coal-union-concession-20170807-gxr03n">trade union movement has deployed them to great effect</a> – there is an opportunity here to elevate creative responses beyond the well-trodden path of cheap shot street theatre. </p>
<h2>The long history of visual protest</h2>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/229789/original/file-20180730-106524-m2eep5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/229789/original/file-20180730-106524-m2eep5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/229789/original/file-20180730-106524-m2eep5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=685&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/229789/original/file-20180730-106524-m2eep5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=685&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/229789/original/file-20180730-106524-m2eep5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=685&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/229789/original/file-20180730-106524-m2eep5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=861&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/229789/original/file-20180730-106524-m2eep5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=861&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/229789/original/file-20180730-106524-m2eep5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=861&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Picasso’s Guernica protested the violence arising from the Spanish civil war.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Guernica_all%27Esposizione_Internazionale_di_Parigi_del_1937.jpg">Artribune/Wikimedia Commons</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Social change and uprisings have been marked by image-led protests throughout history. Picasso’s Guernica (1937) was made in response to the suffering and violence inflicted by the Spanish civil war, and 80 years later remains a universal symbol of anti-war protest. </p>
<p>Artists responded with murals and multiple-edition prints to the 1968 uprisings in Europe, the beginning of the end of the Soviet empire in 1989, and as part of the global Occupy movement from 2011 onward. In the last two years, the preponderance of Trump protest art has <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/arts/making-protest-art-great-again-art-about-donald-trump-1.3503040">almost become a genre of its own</a>.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/may-1968-the-posters-that-inspired-a-movement-95619">May 1968: the posters that inspired a movement</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<figure class="align-left zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/230143/original/file-20180801-136646-1xzc0fa.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/230143/original/file-20180801-136646-1xzc0fa.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/230143/original/file-20180801-136646-1xzc0fa.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/230143/original/file-20180801-136646-1xzc0fa.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/230143/original/file-20180801-136646-1xzc0fa.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/230143/original/file-20180801-136646-1xzc0fa.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/230143/original/file-20180801-136646-1xzc0fa.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/230143/original/file-20180801-136646-1xzc0fa.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Trump Baby was welcomed by London Mayor Sadiq Khan.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">CrowdSpark</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The process of staging any interventionist art project is fraught with obstacles. These range from prohibitive public safety regulations and sceptical bureaucrats to cost blowouts and unpredictable weather. Yet in Britain last month the protest gods (<a href="https://www.dezeen.com/2018/07/09/donald-trump-baby-blimp-london/">and indeed, Mayor Sadiq Khan</a>) were on the side of Trump Baby, eagerly rolling out the red carpet in a spirit of geniality that was not extended by the public to Trump the man. </p>
<p>In the Don’s home country, the state has assumed a more cautious, sometimes censorial approach. Last year, a <a href="https://www.flyingpigsonparade.org/">proposal for another balloon artwork</a> opposing Trump was scuttled by Chicago authorities. The plan was to fly four, nine-metre wide, pig-shaped helium balloons from a section of the Chicago River that fronts Trump Tower. The bloated, golden swine would obscure the giant letters that spell out the proprietor’s name. </p>
<p>Designed to protest falsehoods in the current political environment, the project invoked a range of cultural references. The pigs referred variously to the four central pig characters of George Orwell’s Animal Farm, Trump’s controversial <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2016/sep/27/alicia-machado-miss-universe-weight-shame-trump-speaks-out-clinton">“Miss Piggy” comments about a former Miss Universe</a>, and the garish gold interiors of the Trump penthouse. In a blow to the creators, Chicago authorities blamed the potential for river traffic congestion in ruling that, for now, the pigs can’t fly.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/going-for-gold-trump-louis-xiv-and-interior-design-71698">Going for gold: Trump, Louis XIV and interior design</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<figure class="align-left zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/229903/original/file-20180730-102488-1uih3nv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/229903/original/file-20180730-102488-1uih3nv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/229903/original/file-20180730-102488-1uih3nv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=862&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/229903/original/file-20180730-102488-1uih3nv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=862&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/229903/original/file-20180730-102488-1uih3nv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=862&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/229903/original/file-20180730-102488-1uih3nv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1083&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/229903/original/file-20180730-102488-1uih3nv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1083&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/229903/original/file-20180730-102488-1uih3nv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1083&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Don the Chicken makes an appearance at the Tax March in San Francisco in 2017.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Tax_March_San_Francisco_20170415-3848.jpg">Pax Ahimsa Gethen/Wikimedia Commons</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Trump Baby, like much Trump protest art, provides some much needed levity in the depressing news cycle of world politics. It was <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-40886178">preceded in 2017 by Don the Chicken</a>, an inflatable fowl that temporarily landed on the lawn behind the White House. Don’s grotesque features also mocked Trump’s inflated ego and narcissistic preoccupation with appearance.</p>
<p>The motivation behind these inflatables and other Trump protest art is mostly uniform and blatantly obvious. The UK designers of Baby Trump have stated on numerous occasions that the current US administration is <a href="https://hyperallergic.com/452332/interview-matt-bonner-trump-baby/">not representative of the kind of politics that people in the UK believe in</a>. The creators behind the Chicago proposal have similarly explained that they are not activists. Instead they are proud Americans creating visual commentary on the current political environment. </p>
<h2>Speaking to the converted</h2>
<p>The visual aspect of the commentary is key to the concept of Trump Baby, Don the Chicken and the (currently grounded) flying pigs. Historically, visual imagery in the public sphere was mainly found in places of worship. Renaissance scholar <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leon_Battista_Alberti">Leon Battista Alberti</a> wrote in the 15th century that images were essential to help people understand the message being conveyed. </p>
<p>Inside the churches and cathedrals of Europe, artists’ murals, paintings and sculptures reinforced the word spoken from the pulpit. Like Baby Trump, in its day religious imagery was speaking to the converted. However unlike art of the Renaissance, the baby blimp eschews the possibility of subtle inference and nuanced interpretation in favour of delivering a bland message designed for mass appeal.</p>
<p>This is the crucial difference between art and caricature: Baby Trump is a towering gasbag that sucks up all the intellectual oxygen in the room. </p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/230142/original/file-20180801-136676-tcod3s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/230142/original/file-20180801-136676-tcod3s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/230142/original/file-20180801-136676-tcod3s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=806&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/230142/original/file-20180801-136676-tcod3s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=806&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/230142/original/file-20180801-136676-tcod3s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=806&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/230142/original/file-20180801-136676-tcod3s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1013&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/230142/original/file-20180801-136676-tcod3s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1013&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/230142/original/file-20180801-136676-tcod3s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1013&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A Michelin Man poster from 1898.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Wikimedia Commons</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Religious art of the Renaissance was also commissioned as eye candy with an essentially didactic purpose. However, that imagery is imbued with a narrative-based layering that continues to command interest and acclaim from historians and tourists of all faiths 500 years later. The baby blimp, in contrast, is the brainchild of graphic designers who excel in creating witty one-liners.</p>
<p>This is not to say that serious art cannot play a role in protest movements. However, because inflatables have been commandeered by advertising since the 19th century birth of the Michelin Man, artist-led balloon projects need to disassociate themselves from the visual vocabulary of the marketing industry.</p>
<p>Australian artists have proven this is possible: in <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brook_Andrew">Brook Andrew’s</a> Jumping Castle War Memorial created for the 2010 Biennale of Sydney and <a href="https://acca.melbourne/program/patricia-piccinini-skywhale/">Patricia Piccinini’s</a> Skywhale commissioned for the 2013 centenary of Canberra, each artist drew on their own unique repositories of image and form to present unexpected and engagingly complex juxtapositions of politics, history and fun. </p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/_mupTQN0Rg4?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">Brook Andrew discusses his Jumping Castle War Memorial, displayed on the forecourt on Cockatoo Island during the 17th Biennale of Sydney. The Castle acted as a memorial for forgotten peoples who have been the victims of genocide internationally.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The crude rendering of Trump Baby, in contrast, reflects its simplistic concept: Trump is like a baby – immature, noisy and self-centred. In an image-driven 21st century threatened by divisive politics, this blimp exemplifies the brash and infantile folly that it purports to critique. </p>
<p>If Trump’s troll travels here later this year, it throws open a challenge for Australian artists to greet the man and his Baby with thoughtful, artistically sophisticated responses that provoke considered debate rather than superficially regurgitating popular opinion.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/100583/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Felicity Fenner is Chair of the City of Sydney Public Art Advisory Panel.</span></em></p>
Trump Baby is the latest in a long history of visual protests. But is this ‘cheap shot street theatre’ truly effective, or should we ask more of protest artists?
Felicity Fenner, Associate Professor at UNSW Art & Design, UNSW Sydney
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/85537
2018-04-25T19:13:42Z
2018-04-25T19:13:42Z
Where has Melbourne’s political graffiti gone?
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/202394/original/file-20180118-122949-1nqc3qt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=13%2C287%2C907%2C868&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Graffiti comment adorning an image of a woman in Brunswick. The comment was quickly erased, nearby tags stayed up much longer</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Author provided</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>On my daily commute from Brunswick to Hawthorn, I often look out the train window and ask myself, “Where has Melbourne’s political graffiti gone?” Growing up in Sydney in the 1970s, political graffiti was part of my everyday urban landscape. Organised groups like Billboards Utilising Graffiti Against Unhealthy Promotions (<a href="http://www.bugaup.org/">BUGA UP</a>) systematically sprayed billboards advertising alcohol, tobacco or anything with sexist content.</p>
<p>Their statements were witty, satirical and clearly left wing: “BEER KEEPS WORKERS IN THEIR PLACE” was emblazoned on an <a href="http://www.bugaup.org/gallery_autumn.htm">advertisement</a> for the now almost obsolete KB lager; “CANCER KNOWS NO CLASS” adorned a <a href="http://www.bugaup.org/gallery_b_h.htm">billboard</a> for Benson and Hedges cigarettes. </p>
<p>Our family remembers with fondness the response to the declaration from another graffitist, “GOD HATES HOMOS”, at the corner of Missenden and Parramatta roads in Camperdown. “BUT DOES HE LIKE TABOULI?” someone sprayed back. </p>
<p>The walls of public and private buildings still provide a canvas for political voices but in Melbourne, where I now live, there is less of this overtly political graffiti and it is more ephemeral. What little remains is up against stiff competition from taggers (who could be read as making an oblique statement against draconian graffiti regulation). </p>
<h2>Hunting for what’s left</h2>
<p>The legacy of political graffiti lives on through stick-ups, short-lived slogans and officially sanctioned political content. Stick ups are rogue poster campaigns drawing on the artistic tradition of poster art born in Paris in the 1850s. They resemble collage by 1920s <a href="https://www.moma.org/collection/terms/28">Dadaists</a>, Russian <a href="https://www.moma.org/collection/terms/26">Constructivist</a> posters or 1960s <a href="https://www.moma.org/collection/terms/79">Pop Art</a> but are more politically charged.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/215803/original/file-20180422-75104-11smisv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/215803/original/file-20180422-75104-11smisv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/215803/original/file-20180422-75104-11smisv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=268&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/215803/original/file-20180422-75104-11smisv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=268&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/215803/original/file-20180422-75104-11smisv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=268&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/215803/original/file-20180422-75104-11smisv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=337&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/215803/original/file-20180422-75104-11smisv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=337&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/215803/original/file-20180422-75104-11smisv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=337&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Political Posters on Sydney Road, Brunswick, April 2018.</span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In recent times, stick ups have spoken out against issues such as Islamophobia, racism, police violence, environmental destruction and domestic violence. Others target individual politicians, like Peter Dutton, who <a href="https://www.pedestrian.tv/news/posters-slamming-peter-dutton-have-popped-up-around-sydney-melbourne/">became the object of “FAKEWIT” posters </a> from early 2017. There is something sweetly ironic about how much these posters resemble <a href="http://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/warhol-mao-tse-tung-65355/5">Andy Warhol’s screen print portrait of Mao Tse-Tung</a>. </p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/216043/original/file-20180424-94118-7ihn2l.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/216043/original/file-20180424-94118-7ihn2l.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/216043/original/file-20180424-94118-7ihn2l.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/216043/original/file-20180424-94118-7ihn2l.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/216043/original/file-20180424-94118-7ihn2l.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/216043/original/file-20180424-94118-7ihn2l.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/216043/original/file-20180424-94118-7ihn2l.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/216043/original/file-20180424-94118-7ihn2l.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">‘Fakewit’ a poster of the #dumpdutton campaign, near Glenferrie Station.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Stick-ups are quick and easy to produce but as ephemeral as the promotional campaigns for concerts, bars and universities they compete with. Still, at least they are there. </p>
<p>Recently in Brunswick, graffiti advocating for Indigenous land rights and the slogan “MAKING BRUNSWICK WHITE AGAIN”, a comment about gentrification that played on the name of a real estate franchise, were gone in under 24 hours. Yet tags on the same wall were left there for weeks. </p>
<p>In another case I witnessed in Brunswick, an expression of protest sprayed on a mural of a woman’s face that covered the side of a chemist shop: “WOMEN ARE NOT ORNAMENTS”. These words were painted over in less than a week. Whoever covered them was apparently not bothered by the tags further along the street - they are still there. </p>
<p>In 2016, meanwhile, the graffiti artist Nost <a href="https://i-d.vice.com/en_au/article/9kbmep/the-strange-and-frustrating-case-of-the-destroyed-northcote-womens-mural">“capped” (ie sprayed graffiti over) a 30 year-old mural in Northcote</a> painted by the artists Eve Glenn and Megan Evans, which celebrated local women. Feminists responded, in turn, by graffitiing over Nost’s work, writing “FUCK THE PATRIARCHY” and “NOST IS A DICKHEAD [LOVE] THE LADIES. </p>
<p><a href="http://www.theage.com.au/victoria/notorious-graffiti-tagger-nost-has-his-name-up-on-sites-but-now-hes-carrying-the-can-20170602-gwj8ve.html">Nost was later charged</a> with a range of offences including criminal damage, burglary, trespass, and theft and remanded in custody. However, while the feminist protests were quickly painted over, Nost’s tag remained on the Northcote mural. </p>
<h2>The 21st Century landscape of graffiti</h2>
<p>The everyday urban landscape of 21st century Melbourne has been largely taken over by tags and non-political graffiti. Overt political graffiti is quickly erased, while officially sanctioned pieces or work with little or no political content is celebrated. </p>
<p>One example is that of graffiti production houses like <a href="https://thehundreds.com/blogs/content/everfresh-studio">Everfresh Studios</a>. Members of the Everfresh crew do a wide range of interesting (and sometimes politically engaged) work but their Instagram feed also depicts the kinds of idealised <a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/yL3bZXGLRn/?hl=it&tagged=everfreshstudio">women with parted lips</a> typical of the advertising that BUGA UP used to protest about. </p>
<p>Rone, who recently <a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/BdTNc1aHBFW/?hl=en&taken-by=r_o_n_e">painted silos in Geelong</a> to celebrate Wadawarrung traditional owner Corinna Eccles, also has their work as a backdrop to models advertising Victoria’s Secret <a href="http://www.everfreshstudio.com/blog/rone-x-victorias-secret/">lingerie</a>. </p>
<p>Other wall space is taken up by the work of graffiti artists for hire who create corporate graffiti to promote <a href="http://90degrees.graffitiartistsforhire.com.au/uploads/o_19k6djho11l0r1la0jg1no31et36g.jpg">brands and businesses</a>. In the case of Fitzroy, graffiti "brands” much of the suburb as in the “Welcome to Sunny Fitzroy” piece that covers the entire side wall of the iconic Night Cat club on Johnston Street. The brand of the suburb and the brand of the graffiti artists merge into one and the same image.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/216035/original/file-20180424-94118-ppqr7h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/216035/original/file-20180424-94118-ppqr7h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/216035/original/file-20180424-94118-ppqr7h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/216035/original/file-20180424-94118-ppqr7h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/216035/original/file-20180424-94118-ppqr7h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/216035/original/file-20180424-94118-ppqr7h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/216035/original/file-20180424-94118-ppqr7h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/216035/original/file-20180424-94118-ppqr7h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Graffiti is part of Fitzroy’s brand.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/redefinition_au/9005260211/in/photolist-eHLj86-7BhR4q-9FV6Qg-gcMyg1-86qSS2-8Fr8tJ-4jb4n3-86uaYA-7Be1M2-7Be2z4-7Be1ya-7Be23k-7Be2c2-7Be2jx-4DqyhW-6XP7LP-7BhPn5-7Be1ik-5jSfyz-86u7T7-8Fr7Gy-6XT9ns-7jmwMg-6XT8Mh-6XT8Xw-b1BGbr-6XP7bx-5jSfN8-QMPN6e-PygZtc-6XT81q-5jWw4C">Adrian R. Tan</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/">CC BY-ND</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Graffiti is a paradox. Often criminalised with heavy penalties, it is also part and parcel of the hype of corporate promotional campaigns or as an urban stage set for wedding photos. All this leaves less space and visibility for spontaneous political expression and begs the question: has political conversation moved online?</p>
<p>Elsewhere in the world, politics has played out on the walls of Rome (in ancient, Fascist, and <a href="https://www.academia.edu/34895033/Epi-graffiti_Arenas_of_Conflict_in_Romes_Public_Realm_during_the_Bullet_Years_1968-1982">modern times</a>), <a href="https://books.google.com.au/books?id=iSmWMQEACAAJ&dq=olberg+west+bank&hl=it&sa=X&redir_esc=y">Israel</a>, <a href="https://books.google.com.au/books?id=YwXEBAAAQBAJ&printsec=frontcover&dq=graffiti+in+antiquity&hl=it&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjinPH1rPvWAhWGkpQKHbucB4YQ6AEIJzAA#v=onepage&q=graffiti%20in%20antiquity&f=false">Egypt</a> and other northern African and Middle Eastern nations during the <a href="http://www.academia.edu/11080796/Interrogating_the_Dynamics_of_Egyptian_Graffiti_from_Neglected_Marginality_to_Image_Politics">Arab Spring</a>. </p>
<p>Ironic or perverse as it may seem, the lack of political content in most of Melbourne’s graffiti means it adds up to a singular branding exercise. The city and its cultural image meld together - an image that appeals to those who like their culture free of politics.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/85537/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Flavia Marcello does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
A walk down Melbourne’s streets reveals more commercial street art than the spontaneous politics of years past.
Flavia Marcello, Associate Professor of Design History, Swinburne University of Technology
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/93439
2018-03-16T16:01:53Z
2018-03-16T16:01:53Z
Big brands ripping off street art is not cool: why illegal graffiti should be protected by copyright
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/210787/original/file-20180316-104676-9u6cor.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">H&M's New Routine sportswear campaign featuring graffiti artist Revok's unauthorised artwork in the background</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">H&M</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>When street artist Jason “Revok” Williams sprayed his trademark chevrons on a handball court in Brooklyn, he probably didn’t imagine he would end up in a legal fight with a high-street fashion giant <a href="http://designtaxi.com/news/398688/H-M-Faces-Lawsuit-For-Using-Artist-s-Graffiti-In-Its-Campaign-Without-Permission/">for breach of copyright</a>.</p>
<p>But in January 2018, that’s what happened – and Swedish retailer H&M retaliated with <a href="https://www.worldipreview.com/news/h-m-takes-graffiti-artist-to-court-in-copyright-dispute-15603">a lawsuit</a>, rejecting Williams’ claims and dubbing his work “vandalism”. Then came a series of intriguing twists. On March 15, H&M <a href="https://twitter.com/hm?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor">issued a tweet</a> about “withdrawing the suit”, following a <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/hm-boycott-graffiti-copyright-infringement_us_5aaa835ce4b045cd0a6f5083">backlash</a> against the retailer. Williams’ lawyer then confirmed that, despite earlier statements, H&M was <a href="https://www.juxtapoz.com/news/graffiti/new-update-h-m-is-not-dropping-their-lawsuit-on-revok-as-previously-implied-and-apologized-for/">not dropping the lawsuit</a>. The ongoing furore raises an interesting issue: can illegal graffiti be protected by copyright and can the artists stop big brands misappropriating it in this way?</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/210797/original/file-20180316-104663-52obh0.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/210797/original/file-20180316-104663-52obh0.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=379&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/210797/original/file-20180316-104663-52obh0.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=379&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/210797/original/file-20180316-104663-52obh0.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=379&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/210797/original/file-20180316-104663-52obh0.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=476&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/210797/original/file-20180316-104663-52obh0.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=476&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/210797/original/file-20180316-104663-52obh0.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=476&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The case started when Williams’ lawyer issued a cease-and-desist letter asking H&M to remove an advertising campaign for its <a href="http://www.hm.com/us/inspiration/men/11d-new-routine">New Routine</a> sportswear line which used imagery and videos that incorporated one of his artworks. The campaign featured a model on a handball court posing in front of the Revok <a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/Bd_eEuKHh7d/?utm_source=ig_embed">artwork</a>. Williams maintained this was a case of copyright infringement, unfair competition and negligence – and that the association with the H&M brand was causing him reputational damage.</p>
<h2>Fashion’s got previous</h2>
<p>It is not the first time Revok has sued a big fashion brand. In 2014, along with graffiti artists Reyes and Steel, he took Italian fashion company Roberto Cavalli to <a href="http://www.thefashionlaw.com/home/roberto-cavalli-sued-for-copying-street-art">court</a> for copying an artwork created in San Francisco. The dispute was later <a href="http://www.thefashionlaw.com/home/robert-cavalli-settles-suits-still-stuck-with-bad-press">settled out of court</a>.</p>
<p>In this latest suit, H&M reacted by filing its own claim against Williams, stating that as his graffiti was created illegally without authorisation, they could exploit it. The company requested a court order to allow H&M to use the art in its campaign without having to pay the artist any royalty.</p>
<p>In other words, the Swedish fashion brand argued that illegal graffiti is vandalism and criminal trespass – so anyone should be able to appropriate it, for whatever purpose. It also claimed to have used a production agency to shoot the video, which was reassured by the <a href="https://www.nycgovparks.org/">New York City Department of Parks and Recreation</a> (NYCDP) that the artwork was not authorised and amounted to <a href="https://hypebeast.com/2018/3/hm-revok-copyright-infringement-case">defacing of public property</a>.</p>
<p>In the US, artistic works are eligible for copyright if they are original and can be fixed in a tangible medium, such as the side of a building. There is no doubt Revok’s mural in this case met these requirements. </p>
<p>Whether art produced illegally <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-21-artists-graffitied-one-mans-property-made-it-famous-sued-him-when-he-knocked-it-down-and-won-6-7m-91933">warrants protection</a> is still a grey area of the law – not just in the US but also in the UK and other countries. I believe this case offers a good opportunity to shed light on this issue – and if the dispute is not settled, the judge should unequivocally clarify that unsanctioned original art is protected by a valid and enforceable copyright.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/210800/original/file-20180316-104659-6kz5xr.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/210800/original/file-20180316-104659-6kz5xr.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/210800/original/file-20180316-104659-6kz5xr.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/210800/original/file-20180316-104659-6kz5xr.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/210800/original/file-20180316-104659-6kz5xr.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/210800/original/file-20180316-104659-6kz5xr.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/210800/original/file-20180316-104659-6kz5xr.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Vandal Eyes, a work by graffiti artist Rime was used in a design for a Moschino dress worn by Katy Perry at the Met Ball in 2015.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.mtn-world.com/en/blog/2012/02/17/rime-vandal-eyes-detroit/">Rime</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The defence employed by H&M is popular among defendants accused of appropriating and profiting from street artworks that have been created illegally. It has been raised, for example, by the fashion brand Moschino in <a href="https://streetartandlaw.wordpress.com/2016/05/01/rime-vs-moschino-does-illegal-street-art-have-copyright-protection/">a copyright infringement case</a> brought by the graffiti artist Rime. He claimed that various elements of <a href="http://www.mtn-world.com/en/blog/2012/02/17/rime-vandal-eyes-detroit/">his Detroit mural Vandal Eyes</a> had been copied on to a <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/music/2015/aug/06/katy-perry-met-ball-moschino-dress-copyright-infringement-lawsuit">Moschino dress</a> worn by pop star Katy Perry in 2015.</p>
<h2>Copyrights and wrongs</h2>
<p>H&M invoked the so-called “<a href="https://uk.practicallaw.thomsonreuters.com/6-521-9533?transitionType=Default&contextData=(sc.Default)&firstPage=true&bhcp=1">unclean hands doctrine</a>”, a defence in which the defendant claims that the plaintiff should not obtain a legal remedy and profit when it has acted unethically, illegally or in bad faith. </p>
<p>I’m not a fan of this doctrine, especially when it is applied to unsanctioned art. What makes it unsuitable to govern cases of misappropriation of street art is the lack of connection between the illegal act committed by the artist and the merit of these disputes, namely the exploitation of the work by another party for commercial purposes. In other words, the illegal behaviour of the artist does not have a negative impact on the corporation which has misappropriated the artwork.</p>
<figure class="align-left ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/210794/original/file-20180316-104671-qyqqup.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/210794/original/file-20180316-104671-qyqqup.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=648&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/210794/original/file-20180316-104671-qyqqup.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=648&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/210794/original/file-20180316-104671-qyqqup.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=648&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/210794/original/file-20180316-104671-qyqqup.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=814&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/210794/original/file-20180316-104671-qyqqup.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=814&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/210794/original/file-20180316-104671-qyqqup.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=814&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">After issuing its suit against the graffiti artist Revok, H&M felt the backlash from the street art community.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.instagram.com/p/BgUTDV4lO9a/?taken-by=official_quali_thegoon">Instagram</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The way (legal or illegal) art is created should not affect the issue of copyright. If I steal a pen then use it to draw a wonderful piece of art, why should I be denied the right to enforce my copyright and allow someone else to copy and make money out of my work? It is simply unfair to allow others to copy and exploit it for their own commercial gain just because it is illegal.</p>
<p>Denying copyright to illegal graffiti would have the effect of making the misappropriating of it legal, but not its very creation. Feelings of resentment on the part of the street-art community, who perceived H&M’s move as an <a href="http://urbanartassociation.com/thread/150926/revok">assault on artists’ rights</a>, are entirely understandable. </p>
<p>It could also be argued that making copyright and enforcement rights available to street artists for illegally created works would be useless. Many would deem it risky to start a legal action as this would mean revealing their identity and exposing themselves to serious legal consequences, including jail. This is what Williams could face if, as H&M claims, it is found he had no authorisation to paint that mural.</p>
<p>It would be much less risky if a copyright suit was brought against those who exploit an artwork long after it had been created – like other offences, graffiti has a statute of limitations. In <a href="https://theconversation.com/mcdonalds-accused-of-copying-graffiti-logo-heres-why-we-should-protect-street-artists-original-tags-66855">these circumstances</a>, artists or even their heirs can be determined to sue big companies who are blatantly trying to free-ride on other people’s creativity. </p>
<p>After all, creativity should never be illegal. But ripping it off should be.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/93439/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Enrico Bonadio does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
Just because graffiti is illegal shouldn’t mean an artist can’t protect his work. The law should step in when big brands try to exploit street art.
Enrico Bonadio, Senior Lecturer in Law, City, University of London
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/91933
2018-02-16T14:09:41Z
2018-02-16T14:09:41Z
How 21 artists graffitied one man’s property, made it famous, sued him when he knocked it down and won $6.7m
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/206628/original/file-20180215-130997-yjgedt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/34639903@N03/3423491692">Nigel Morris/Flickr</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>It’s an extraordinary tale with a whiff of <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2003/jul/17/art.artsfeatures">Banksy</a> about it, although surprisingly, he was not involved. In a <a href="https://www.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.nyed.370997/gov.uscourts.nyed.370997.69.0.pdf">landmark ruling</a>, 21 New York street artists have sued and won <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2018/feb/12/graffiti-artists-5pointz-lawsuit">US$6.7m in damages</a> from the owner of a building who destroyed their graffiti when he had the building demolished.</p>
<p>Following a <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2017/nov/09/new-york-graffiti-artist-win-lawsuit-5-pointz">three-week trial</a> in November, on February 12, Judge Frederic Block ruled against Jerry Wolkoff, owner of the 5Pointz complex in Queens, conferring the biggest award of $1.3m on the building’s mastermind-curator, graffiti artist <a href="http://www.meresone.com/about/">Meres One</a>, real name Jonathan Cohen. </p>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/206766/original/file-20180216-50550-1t13sev.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/206766/original/file-20180216-50550-1t13sev.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=750&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/206766/original/file-20180216-50550-1t13sev.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=750&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/206766/original/file-20180216-50550-1t13sev.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=750&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/206766/original/file-20180216-50550-1t13sev.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=942&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/206766/original/file-20180216-50550-1t13sev.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=942&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/206766/original/file-20180216-50550-1t13sev.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=942&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">5Pointz mastermind Jonathan Cohen, aka Meres One, who won $1.3m in the landmark court ruling.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/theeerin/14458361523/in/photolist-o2CTae-cpzRV5-cpzNbJ-fgW9FQ-5f6QQc-cpAbsJ-cpzw9U-cpzdwL-cpz799-cpz2gj-cpzhPU-cpyQtQ-cpz8uQ-cpzJh3-cpzcjh-cpzWho-cpzPQo-5N1Hxv-cpzUuh-cpzuSf-cpzpmY-hK1pRA-oZCw7S-cpzKXf-cpA1Ab-cpzrxW-5N1Pjz-cpyUYW-5N1Mxk-ahSp6G-cpz47b-caBMqN-cpzFZA-5N6c6W-ahNXy6-cpyTv5-cpA6pd-cpyLBm-cpz9Gh-5N6bUW-cpyRDQ-cpyKjE-cpyXVE-5N1Xzn-7pToae-cpzjY1-cpznpL-cpzDq1-cpz5M5-cpzBoq">Thee Erin/Flickr</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The demolition of the former factory site turned graffiti mecca began in August 2014. The year before, artists had tried to oppose the warehouse’s destruction, but an attempt to win an injunction to prevent the owner from knocking it down was unsuccessful.</p>
<p>In the 1990s, Wolkoff had agreed to allow the derelict factory to be used as a showcase for local graffiti talent. Called the Phun Factory, it was later renamed 5Pointz by Meres One in 2002. Under the artist’s watchful eye, it evolved into an “aerosol art centre” and became famous the world over, a huge draw for graffiti aficionados and tourists alike.</p>
<p>In the end, Wolkoff profited from the graffiti and its destruction, when the value of the complex went up from $40m to $200m and permission to build luxury condos was obtained. Destroying 5Pointz, the judge stressed, permitted Wolkoff to realise that value.</p>
<h2>Proper works of art</h2>
<p>Judge Block accepted that 45 artworks at the centre of the case had “<a href="https://ir.lawnet.fordham.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?referer=http://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=1&ved=0ahUKEwjWj9q3wqjZAhUEr6QKHdHYBI8QFggnMAA&url=http%3A%2F%2Fir.lawnet.fordham.edu%2Fcgi%2Fviewcontent.cgi%3Farticle%3D3644%26context%3Dflr&usg=AOvVaw0Blby3wFH756dKprSYtBCH&httpsredir=1&article=3644&context=flr">recognised stature</a>” and must receive protection under the <a href="http://www.law.harvard.edu/faculty/martin/art_law/esworthy.htm">Visual Artists Rights Act</a> (VARA), a piece of legislation which was introduced in the US in 1990 to protect artists’ moral rights – but has rarely been applied in their favour.</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/4pCrY6T71oM?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">Kevin Wood/YouTube.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The rationale used by the court to confirm these artworks were of merit was crucial. To be considered such, works of art don’t need to be mentioned in academic publications or be considered masterpieces, as the expert for the property owner had argued.</p>
<p>It was enough, the judge said, for the 5Pointz artists to show their professional achievements in terms of residences, teaching positions, fellowships, public and private commissions as well as <a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/real_cities/9119430.stm">media coverage</a> and <a href="https://twitter.com/5pointznyc?lang=en">social media presence</a>.</p>
<p>Judge Block also carefully examined Wolkoff’s behaviour. The artworks – even those that could be easily removed as they had been placed on plywood panels – were whitewashed prior to demolition without giving artists the 90-day notice required by VARA. And the owner did so, the judge stressed, while conscious of the fact the artists were pursuing a VARA-based legal action. Such behaviour, the judge concluded, was not acceptable.</p>
<p>Such blatant disregard for an important legal provision pushed the judge to award the artists the maximum amount of damages allowable under the law. And although he did not grant the injunction requested by the artists in 2013, the judge had warned Wolkoff that he would be exposed to potentially high damages if the artworks were finally considered of “recognised stature”, as they were by the February 12 ruling.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/206795/original/file-20180216-50555-1nj0xnf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/206795/original/file-20180216-50555-1nj0xnf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/206795/original/file-20180216-50555-1nj0xnf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/206795/original/file-20180216-50555-1nj0xnf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/206795/original/file-20180216-50555-1nj0xnf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/206795/original/file-20180216-50555-1nj0xnf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/206795/original/file-20180216-50555-1nj0xnf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">5Pointz drew street art aficionados from all over the world with its wildly imaginative and inventive graffiti.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/patx11/8938996467/in/photolist-eBUGdK-eBTMxC-eBVHks-eBSDZZ-SByPLt-giYuiA-SByNhX-qkUTJM-SByLz8-9u7rZB-9uavKs-9Fmxnz-eiYYoX-SByMNa-giYeLi-qoHUTs-eiYYtc-gKqeNF-gKqhfz-azNScZ-eiZ1bP-ej5JxG-9uauA1-9uaq9y-eiZ1ba-eiYZtT-9u88r4-eiYYwP-9uaCeo-eiYZDR-aJkk18-eiYZ7c-eiYYje-prZmqQ-9u7uuF-ej5Jof-eiYZFX-hGXLG3-9uaCtu-SsajD1-4qdqJs-eiYYnP-azNRYT-azRwh1-eiYYLz-bbtiNz-eiYYMi-eiYZyp-eiYZ66-bbtgv2">Paxti Moraleda/Flickr</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The court also took into account that 5Pointz had become an attraction for visitors to New York, with busloads of tourists, schoolchildren and even weddings heading to the site. Also thanks to Meres One’s savvy stewardship for more than a decade, not only was the complex <a href="https://www.widewalls.ch/5-pointz/">painted regularly by talented graffiti artists</a> from all over the world, 5Pointz also attracted movie producers, advertising companies and bands, and was used as a location for the climax for the 2013 film <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1670345/">Now You See Me</a>.</p>
<p>The judge did not attach much importance to the fact that several artworks at 5Pointz were not meant to be permanent, an argument that had also been relied on by Wolkoff to claim that the pieces could not be protected. But the court reminded him that VARA protects both permanent and temporary art. This is an important provision of the law, especially when all that makes a work transient is the site owner’s expressed intention to remove it.</p>
<h2>Art v property</h2>
<p>This ruling may well embolden other graffiti artists to sue property owners who destroy artworks without following the correct procedure, even beyond the US. It may also make owners of buildings whose walls host graffiti more careful. Most important, the huge amount of damages awarded in this case will convince many that ignoring legal provisions and disregarding legitimate graffiti art is not a good idea. Judge Block made clear he awarded the maximum penalty allowable to deter other building owners from behaving in the same disrespectful way as Wolkoff.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/206771/original/file-20180216-50550-18szx2t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/206771/original/file-20180216-50550-18szx2t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/206771/original/file-20180216-50550-18szx2t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/206771/original/file-20180216-50550-18szx2t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/206771/original/file-20180216-50550-18szx2t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/206771/original/file-20180216-50550-18szx2t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/206771/original/file-20180216-50550-18szx2t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">5Pointz in Queens was an old factory that was turned into an aerosol art centre.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a6/5pointz_BIG.jpg">P Lindgren</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Finally, the decision clearly marks the evolution of graffiti and street art, long considered to be temporary or transient artforms. It is now clear that artistic movements such as these aim to become more permanent forms of art, and that they have achieved a status similar to the one traditionally held by works of “fine art”.</p>
<p>So the gap between “street art” and “fine art” is narrowing. As 5Pointz curator Meres One put it: “This case will probably change the way art is <a href="https://news.artnet.com/art-world/judge-awards-6-million-5pointz-lawsuit-1222394">perceived</a> for generations to come.”</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/91933/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Enrico Bonadio does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
In a landmark court decision, graffiti has been ruled to be proper art worthy of recognition and protection.
Enrico Bonadio, Senior Lecturer in Law, City, University of London
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.