Show Me Your Graffiti and I'll Tell You Who You Are.

“Some people become cops because they want to make the world a better place. Some people become vandals because they want to make the world a better looking place.”
-Banksy

Graffiti shows more than illustrations plastered on walls. It tells alot about changes in customs and attitudes (Stocker et al., 1972). For instance, graffiti can reflect the attitude and values on main cultural themes. The image above clearly sends the message of love and peace as compared to the image below.

Throughout many areas in P.O.S which seemed a little too sketchy to enter, there were lots of homosexual writings and political slogans. These writings show the attitude of the individuals responsible for these acts and what they think of various issues popular in Trinidad.

Graffiti For Yuh Money

“Graffiti is one of the few tools you have if you have almost nothing. And even if you don't come up with a picture to cure world poverty you can make someone smile while they're having a piss.” - Banksy

Graffiti has been condemned by many to be an act of crime and vandalism. However, the presence of graffiti has increased over the years, the number of articles on graffiti has increased in popular magazines by 40% from the 1950's to 1970's (Ley and Cybriwsky, 1974).
The picture above illustrates how graffiti style art has become a tool of advertising. Graffiti has a captive audience, a condition it shares with advertising (Dovey et al.,2012). In my opinion, this style shown above has obviously emerged from real graffiti found all throughout P.O.S.  It makes sense to use graffiti style paintings on buildings as not only is it quite unique and eye catching, it also attracts a younger crowd to the place.

To borrow a past graffito: " Today's graffiti are tomorrow's headlines"  (Ley and Cybriwsky, 1974). A current trend that has emerged in the Global North is advertising using "clean graffiti or reverse graffiti". Upon much research, this trend is an environmentally friendly, low cost advertising solution that can reach hundreds if thousands of people in a day. Due to the lack of chemicals used, this form of advertising is biodegradable and have attracted large businesses such as Microsoft and BBC.
Through the emergence of graffiti as a form of advertising this trend has trickled down to Trinidad's advertising strategy. This is a direct indication of the impact that the global north and media has on the global south.

References:

• Kim, Dovey, Simon Wollan, and Ian Woodcock, 2012. "Placing Graffiti: Creating and Contesting Character in Inner-city Melbourne."
• Ley, D. and Cybriwsky, R., 1974. URBAN GRAFFITI AS TERRITORIAL MARKERS*. Annals of the Association of American Geographers, 64(4), pp.491--505.

  Related articles:

• http://www.reversegraffiti.co.uk/reverse-graffiti-advertising.html

Hey public space may i leave my mark on you?

‘In a city that belongs to no-one, people are constantly seeking to leave a trace of themselves…’ (Sennett 1990:205)
Photo taken along St James Street P.O.S

 The role of space in everyday life has become of importance as more and more public spaces are becoming privatized. The picture above displays a rather public wall in the city being marked as a tagger's own private space. Typically in urban environments space is a rare commodity and a privilege for those who can afford it. Many graffiti artists do not have ownership of space in urban areas and may seize any opportunity they have to "own" such space by marking on private or public spaces (Gunes et al., 2006).
In cities where space is a privilege, graffiti artists' view on space is quite different than the typical citizen. They view space in an absolute sense where it is free until it becomes occupied. These "underutilized" spaces are then used by the graffiti artists to leave their mark on to be identified by their peers and showcase their skills to the rest of the graffiti artists (Bandaranaike, 2001).
In today's world where graffiti has evolved from gang graffiti or tagger graffiti to artistic graffiti, it is viewed as a spatial phenomena that allows for artists to defend a space for themselves in an urban landscape (Gunes et al., 2006). Due to the positioning of graffiti on public and private property that near to public spaces, graffiti has become prominent in urban landscapes as they are seen all throughout the world in many different cities. As mentioned in previous blogs, graffiti work has also gained attention from many tourists, so it has become etched as apart of an urban landscape.

References:  

• Gunes, Serkan and Yilmaz, Gulsen (2006) Understanding Graffiti in the Built Environment, 42^nd ISoCaRP Congress 2006.
• Bandaranaike, S. 2001. Graffiti: A culture of aggression or assertion? The Character, Impact and Prevention of Crime in Regional Australia Conference, 2-3 August 2001.

Tagger's Irony

"People say graffiti is ugly, irresponsible and childish... but that's only if it's done properly.” 
― Banksy, Wall and Piece.
Taken along Wrightson Road

Isn't  this photo ironic, that taggers speak about people coming at thieves at night, when they themselves come at night to tag buildings, walls and other public spaces? I couldn't help but laugh at the irony of this. 

In today's blog, I shall attempt to look at whether urban graffiti is simply street art or vandalism? The distinction between the two seems to be a little unclear. Vandalism and street art are often regarded as complete opposites, vandalism as destruction and street art as creation (Dovey, Wollan and Woodcock 2012,2). In some cities, such as Melbourne Australia, they are famous for their graffiti. The Lonely Planet travel guide listed Melbourne's inner city as one of the city's premier tourist attractions. Upon researching this city's graffiti I was stunned to see the amazing detailed pieces of graffiti plastered along streets. This brings me to my  question, is this considered street art? Or vandalism? Or both maybe? Melbourne sure is gaining tourist attention for their graffiti filled streets which would contribute to their economy. However, officials have stated that graffiti is not the way they want Melbourne to be portrayed, which brings me to another question, if such graffiti is attracting positive attention why isn't it referred to as street art? Why isn't it embraced? 

I can personally understand why graffiti may be looked at as vandalism when it's done to deface architectural sites and done to individual's private property, but when a truly amazing piece is done to an empty wall on the corner or back lot I can appreciate that and call it street art.  It shows an unexpected side to urban culture that creates a renewal in interest in many areas. 

References: 

Kim, Dovey, Simon Wollan, and Ian Woodcock, 2012. "Placing Graffiti: Creating and Contesting Character in Inner-city Melbourne." 

Dovey, Kim, Simon Wollan and Ian Woodcock. "Placing Graffiti: Creating and Contesting Character in Inner-city Melbourne." Journal of Urban Design vol 17, no. 1 (2012): 2.

Related articles: 

• http://artradarjournal.com/2010/01/21/what-is-street-art-vandalism-graffiti-or-public-art-part-i

Placecheck

                                     Taken along the international waterfront center, Port-of-Spain.

The international waterfront center was a project aimed at revitalizing the water front of Trinidad's and Tobago capital. The aim of this project is in cohesion with Brooks and Young article on the downtown revitalization of New Orleans from the period 1973-1993.

Upon walking through the entrance of the Hyatt Regency Hotel the mood is already set, cars entering and leaving the area, presence of armed policemen, well dressed businessmen and woman and the down to business staff. As i approached the waterfront I couldn't help but appreciate the incorporation of the natural environment into this area. The ambiance, openness of space and the incorporation of Trinidad's history through the enchanting wall that showcased our Olympic achievements. I couldn't help but wonder why there wasn't a presence of patrols along the waterfront itself. Clearing such an area would be in need of protection from vandalism. This would have been one of the things that i would have cared to see more of.

Speaking about things I would like to see a change in, there definitely needs to be an incorporation of signs along the waterfront. Throughout the area there were maybe maximum two signs that I saw that urged parents to be vigilant in the supervision of their kids. In addition, when you compare this area to lets say an area such as the Brian Lara Promenade or Woodford Square there is clearly a distinction in the amount of people and the various classes of people engaging in activities in the respective areas. Maybe it wouldn't be such a bad idea to encourage a wide range of individuals to come to the waterfront and this can be achieved by making this area seem more user friendly.

Placecheck: Belmont

Previously known as Freeport, Belmont was the first official suburb of Trinidad. It was the first area that become populated by freed African slaves. This in itself, explains alot about the structure of Belmont as a community. Back then, the emancipated African slaves who settled here did not pay much attention to urban planning and just built their houses close to one another not taking into consideration the facilitation of infrastructure such as roads and so on. This is why there are so many narrow roads seen around this community. This inadequate form of planning has caused problems related to flooding due to poor drainage systems. Additionally, traffic congestion is a serious problem that residents face here. Due to the close proximity to the capital city and the inter-connectivity of both areas  traffic that starts in POS ends up in Belmont. Sadly, due to the high crime rate in Laventille and the closeness to Belmont there has now been a stigma attached to those residing in Belmont. 

On a positive note, there are many things to celebrate about Belmont, the close knit community structure is definitely one of them. One resident of Belmont, Ms. Tyker Pinero expressed this sentiment as she says she sees herself as a sort of friendly authority figure to the kids in the community, letting them know when they're slacking. The establishment of African slaves into Belmont has also had an influence in our present, as the community has a many steelpan bands and mas bands.