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(My) photo of the day

As promised yesterday, I set out in my lunch break to try to capture some ‘urban grit’. I was thinking broken glass or piles of rubbish, but I work in Salamanca, which has people lurking about picking up the rubbish and sweeping away the broken bottles as soon as they happen.

Therefore, although I was unable to deliver exactly what I wanted, I turned my eye towards graffiti. However, unlike other parts of Hobart, again Salamanca has proven a surprisingly graffiti free area. I did manage to snare four examples of ‘writing on stuff’ (the technical name for ‘graffiti’).

The first features the universal language of sad teenage vandals, the nasty nickname and a hastily drawn penis. One imagines that similar such images grace the finest cities of the world! (As well as Devonport.)



The second is perhaps by the same fragile and uncertain hand of the author of the first. Again, it appears to be a marking of some sort, a message to rivals (like dogs leaving their mark on telephone poles, and about as attractive). I’m not too sure who the WMB are, but it appears that Battery Point is their turf! Given that Battery Point is about as gentrified a suburb as you will find in Tasmania, I imagine the WMB crew are about as imposing as a group primary school kids who play the clarinet.



Number three strikes a slightly better note. I’m not sure who would choose to get out the white paint and scribble this on a power box, but hey, it beats another oddly disembodied cartoon penis! Perhaps the WMB gang should take note of the message.



The last lot is the work of someone who has gone to slightly more trouble. Despite the fact that they’ve chosen to deface quite a nice alleyway through to Kelly’s Steps, they’ve at least put a bit of effort in. This one is a collection of pictures, and reflects an interesting – if somewhat dysfunctional – personality. I’ll let you judge for yourself, but will point out that the top left image appears to read “I wish I was a [image of Kiwi bird = New Zealander]”. With all due respect to my Kiwi friends (and isn't is always the way that whenever you read ‘with all due respect’ that some disrespecting is coming), why anyone would actually wish that is beyond me, but I am sure they have their reasons. The fellow on the bottom centre charged with being a terrorist is former Australian Prime Minister John Howard. The best that I can say about him is that although he was PM for eleven years, it is a real struggle these days to find someone who will admit that they ever voted for him. Funny things, these elections. Do dreadful things to people's memories!



So that’s urban grit, Salamanca style. Tomorrow I’ll try and find something pretty to make us all feel cleaner.

Comments

EG CameraGirl said…
Kids marking their territory is an interesting subject. I wonder if kids have ALWAYS done this or if it's a modern phenomenon. We have plenty of "writing on" here too. In fact, we had a major outbreak just a couple of weeks go. But it's spring here....ha! What a combination: spring and teenagers.
Mark said…
I think animals have marked their territory since time began.

I like the last picture of the stenciling. This is something new that has popped up here in Edonoton inthe last 2-3 years.
I don't have much trouble interpreting the graffiti, but what is a "Future Medium Parking Area" - a place where future mediums may park? Well, I guess if you're going to be a medium you might know about it in advance but how you could prove it to parking authorities is beyond me. Is there some sort of school for the paranormal nearby? Like X-Men? Hope you will look into this more closely. But BE CAREFUL! Those clarinets might be loaded.
Anonymous said…
Hmm, I guess some things are the same the world over. I wonder if in thousands of years time archeologists and anthropologists and the like will pore over this graffiti like they do now over ancient cave paintings ;)
Andree said…
As I looked at the graffiti, I was wondering if the similarity worldwide is due to the transmission of the graffiti culture or to the similarities of all cultures to draw similar items. Who knows. But it is all over the world and I wish I knew what dissatisfaction caused it (poverty, disenfranchisement? both and more?).
Kris McCracken said…
I myself don't get it. I did write my name in wet cement once years ago (with the words "AC/DC"), but that was as much about the lure of wet cement as any desire to 'tag' something!

The drawing of male members I understand even less. Apparently ancient Rome and Greece also featured this sort of ‘dirty’ graffiti, Pompeii is apparently littered with them. There were that many of these members all over my high school, on lockers, walls, desks, chairs, they were everywhere! And it wasn't just boys drawing them, there were plenty of girls whacking them up all over the place. I can't recall ever seeing a female 'private part' scribbled on anything. I wonder what that was all about. They are also always circumcised, which is odd, because that hasn’t been standard practice in Australia since the late-1960s.

Benjamin, apparently Future Medium is a web design company. It's only recently that they've banned others using that car park. Maybe that has upset the gang of teens.

On your points Jackie and Andrée, one good thing about the Internet is how it serves as a resource for storing this sort of information/images. Previously, this sort of stuff would go unrecorded (yes, even “Rat Scum [heart]s [penis]”, would just be scribbled up and wiped down. Those future anthropologists will have a big bank of material should they ever want to study it.
Dan said…
Looks like you had quite the challenge finding suitable urban grit to post. Must be a real trial to have to live in such a clean place ;)

Seriously, the pics were good and the commentary fantastic. Well done
Kris McCracken said…
There are plenty of other parts of Hobart where you wouldn't have any trouble finding 'filth and decay', just not around my office! ;)

I will have to head out into new territory and find some this weekend.
ritasobczyk said…
Intresting small murals. I think street art is really intresting and sometimes it's the only way for artists to present their pieces and manifests.
Kris McCracken said…
Ritalounge I agree, I'd rather the neater ones with some sort of purpose to them. I'm not sure that I'd like it so much if it was on my own wall though!

The stenciled graffiti is generally the form that 'political graffiti' takes in Hobart these days.

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