Campbell Vincent and Christopher Maxwell
Theme: Vandalism
Sub-theme: Graffiti
Street art, more commonly referred to as “graffiti”, is
something that is exposed to us every day. As people go about their days,
taking care of their average business, they are surrounded by graffiti. On the
buses, the trains, signs, seats, walls, posts, roofs; graffiti dominates the
landscape of urban life. Whether it’s a huge artwork spread across a wall with
spray paint, or an insignificant tag scribbled across the back of a bus seat,
vandalism in it’s most recognisable form of graffiti will always be a factor in
everyday life.
Hence, the idea of this photo essay was based upon focussing on
the insignificant vandalism that we walk past everyday. The idea was to try
search for and then capture the graffiti that goes unnoticed - glanced at day
after day, and then swept from the minds of the passers-by. This kind of
vandalism is a true exemplification of the “everyday aesthetic” mentioned by
Susan Murray (2008), highlighting the notion that the aspects of our lives that we
seem to ignore can often be the most intriguing, and capturing these aspects
can effectively open the minds of the viewer. By capturing this graffiti, it
became apparent that while it might not seem overwhelming when experiencing the
urban day-to-day grind, there are many aspects that are literally hiding in
plain sight, just waiting to be noticed.
References:
Murray, S (2008) Digital Images, Photo-Sharing, and Our Shifting Notions of Everyday Aesthetics. Journal of Visual Culture August 2008 vol. 7(2).
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