Note: This is a memoir-like travelogue blog to be part of a website that introduces aspects of Melbourne that will be easily (in terms of cost, time, effort) accessible to and of interest to prospective overseas students or overseas students who have recently come to Melbourne to undertake some form of university education. The site (like the IDP site) will be maintained by the organization that helps overseas students with the application process, etc. The site can be interactive and help students network with others for accommodation, etc. Hence the site can create a community of overseas students. Article contributions can be made by ‘veteran’ overseas students who may need to be given some form of incentive for contributing.
Graffiti at St Kilda junction
(courtesy melbournegraffiti.com)
One of the most striking features while travelling through Melbourne in its extensive public transport system of trains and trams—is the amazing, innovative graffiti. Blinding colours, cryptic words, the choice of typeface and the execution of design: priceless. The artistic endeavour, immediacy, ephemeral nature and comments on political and social change shape the urban landscape of Melbourne. And to imagine that all of it is actually illegal, from an ‘underground youth writing scene’!
Who funds them? What fuels them? Where do they get the paints from? How do they form their communities? What do they paint and why? What does their art say to the world? Myriad questions.
Graffiti at Burnley railway station
(courtesy melbournegraffiti.com)
There have been some prominent books published that document and discuss this subculture:
- Stencil Graffiti Capital Melbourne by Jake Smallman and Carl Nyman (2005)
- Uncommissioned Art: An A–Z of Australian Graffiti by Christine Dew (2007)
- Kings Way: The Beginnings of Australian Graffiti: Melbourne 1983–93 by Duro Cubrilo, Martin Harvey and Karl Stamer (2009). Recently, the Melbourne Writers Festival 2009 had a session, ‘Old Skool Graffiti’, to discuss the “New York City hip-hop phenomenon [that] left its mark on Australian walls” elaborated in the book.
From the many websites that discuss Melbourne’s graffiti, melbournegraffiti.com is perhaps the most comprehensive and well catalogued. There are archives of almost all the stencil art in Melbourne’s suburbs. They are organized based on the area, the artist, the type of art, etc. Many of the artists have been interviewed. However, they prefer to work behind veils of secrecy, about their inspiration, motivation and techniques. The site also has links to any news article related to Melbourne’s graffiti, appearing in any news publication, recorded from the year 2001.
A cursory glance at the various headlines about Melbourne’s graffiti that made it to any newspaper provides for a very interesting study of the evolution of the journey of Melbourne’s graffiti culture from its inception to the present day. Given the nature of the debates and the topic itself, some of the headlines are rather creative:
12.08.2006 - Drawing on their talents - The Age
10.08.2006 - City lets them spray - Herald Sun
04.07.2006 - If you spray, you pay - Herald Sun
17.02.2006 - Let us spray - Herald Sun
14.02.2006 - Problem brushed aside - Waverley Leader
23.01.2006 - Ugly picture of delays - Herald Sun
12.09.2005 - Police seek powers to answer scrawl of the wild - The Age
27.07.2005 - Good Wall Hunting - Herald Sun (ET)
04.03.2005 - The writing's on the wall for city's graffiti zone - The Age
I love the way this video zooms in to place the graffiti scene in Melbourne!
The graffiti scene has attracted a lot of attention to itself from the general public, the media, politicians, law and order enforcement, policy makers of urban planning and academics of sociology, anthropology, urban culture.
The often-heard debates around this potent art form is about the nature of the art itself—is it freedom of expression through art OR is it degradation and vandalism of public (tax payers’) property in the name of art?
Most municipal councils continue to take a repressive stance towards graffiti. There are a whole range of laws to penalise graffiti artists. So, I’m curious to know the general public’s views about graffiti in Melbourne. Do they appreciate the diversity and complexity of types of graffiti, and their importance as a contemporary cultural practice? I’m still not sure which I swing. But I think I maybe inclined to just revel in the art for now... It does remind me of the graphic satires of the eighteenth and nineteenth century.
References:
Old Skool Graffiti in the Melbourne Writers Festival
melbournegraffiti.com
Da’ Hub
Melbourne Stencil Festival
Melbourne Graffiti Walks
Links
Oh yeah, I love Melbourne's graffiti - I'm not much into hip-hop culture otherwise, but a lot of the graffiti in Melbourne (& the stencil art, too) is spectacular. I remember when I went to LA and New York, and every time I saw "authentic" US graffiti I was like, "aw, I've seen stuff in Melbourne that's better than that!" - we're totally world class! ;)
ReplyDeleteHave you seen the graf on the side of the Night Cat in Fitzroy? Possibly the most amazing thing I've ever seen. Graffiti artists and Aussie hip-hop culture go hand-in-hand - if you ever talk to a local music store owner like a "Phat Stuff" guy (hip-hop store in Brisbane) or the guys downstairs at Rocking Horse in Brisbane, you realise they're all graf artists and hip-hop musicians. They give advice to young graffers, tell them what paints to use and tell them where the best places to paint are. I grew up with hip-hop and graf culture and saw the sketchbooks of some of Brisbane's greatest street artists: Pikasso and Pizzaz, the ADW and BNF crews. They don't just spend all their time drawing words, they draw waterfalls and landscapes and people's portraits.
ReplyDeleteI was at the Earthdance Festival 2009 in September and saw that the City Council in Brunswick were allowing street artists to paint all along the wall at Clifton Park. Seeing young artists being able to express themselves in public was the highlight of my afternoon!
@ thoapsl - I'm not at all into hip-hop culture, but have fallen in love with the creativity of Melb's graffiti.
ReplyDeleteDid you feel the NY art was not a patch on what we see here? What was different? The colours, the message, the images, the contrasts?
@ Steph Teh - Thanks! No, I seem to be a South-Eastern suburban chick! I don't get into Fitzroy, Carlton, etc. Only come here for Uni. Hmm. Must go and check out the wall scene here. Night Cat, huh? Hey I'm headed to Brissie in December. Will def try and check out the music store duede. Thanks for the link to Earthdance. Will def check it out next year. I absolutely love to do local stuff like this.