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September 12, 2009
Graffiti is now a way of visual thinking and acting that is shifting from the margins to the centre of our visual world.
Gary Sauer-Thompson, Hosier Lane, Melbourne, 2008
The culturally conservative attitudes in society are best indicated by Peter Bond, The City of Victor Harbor’s Director of Environment and Infrastructure, who says:
Graffiti imposes huge costs to society, not only in dollars but also through increased fear of crime and a lowering of the quality of life in our communities... of course there is also the massive indirect and hidden costs that are not accounted for that potentially double the financial burden caused by graffiti
Graffiti in Victor Harbor is seen as offensive. The local Neighbourhood Watch (NHW) has a volunteer graffiti officer.
In Texting and Graffiti: Understanding the Reader in Contemporary Art in Journal of Aesthetics and Protest (Issue 5) Karla Diaz says that today:
Graffiti artists now take pictures on their cell phones and send them to friends. Text culture and the accessibility of phones changed the way Graffiti is now accessed, documented and read. Graffiti that was done on walls and the streets was never documented in this way before. The way most Graffiti artists documented it was through cameras that used film and then they developed the images for documentation. They often had to develop several shots and form a series of collages to get a full view of a piece they did on a long wall. Often, Graff artists compiled photo albums of their pieces and carried it with them to show others their work—a sort of artistic portfolio.
Diaz adds graffiti should still be looked at in terms of its context and the politics of being rooted on the streets. This is important because meaning, originality and style will always be invented here. However, there is a disparity in the way graffiti is socially perceived and privately practiced.
The conservative attitudes in the centre are best indicated by Peter Bond, The City of Victor Harbor’s Director of Environment and Infrastructure, who says:
Graffiti imposes huge costs to society, not only in dollars but also through increased fear of crime and a lowering of the quality of life in our communities... of course there is also the massive indirect and hidden costs that are not accounted for that potentially double the financial burden caused by graffiti
Graffiti in Victor Harbor is seen as offensive.
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stupid graffiti removers last year erased a piece of political graffiti that had been on a local underpass probably since Menzies. idiots.
I've argued at council meetings - but people confuse idiot vandalism tagging with art (bad or good)