I voted other. A. It’s not artwork (unless there’s an image I’ve not seen), it’s not skilled signwriting (unlike much of the local graffiti), it’s not very skilled, it’s a slogan. Quite an obvious slogan, because of course black lives matter. I hope it was done in a socially distanced manner, so that people could walk past safely, because of course lives matter.
B. Graffiti breeds graffiti. If it has to be done anywhere, let it be done on the graffitist’s own property or on temporary hoardings.
C. Speaking generally: I sort of don’t actually care whether any “street art” aka graffiti is considered artistic nor do I care if it gets graffitied over, because no doubt all those graffitists think they’re artistic. I think I can sing, despite all evidence and opinion to the contrary.
I think it’s incendiary by taking a movement against police brutality and protesting specifically due to a recent murder and trying to spark a debate about Marxism that no one within the movement actually seems to be actively promoting . Whether that’s what some of the founders believe in it’s clearly not the crux of the issue.
I agree someone should put this topic on a tea break!
Clearly people want to discuss the BLM issue and this particular thread seems to have found a home for the discussion. It’s borderline politics but seems to be generating good debate. We don’t want to be breaking forum rules or guidelines so please let us know if you want to continue discussion, I can split it off into @moderator_actions or a separate thread, we can close it and start a new thread when someone paints some new art or we can have a tea break for a few days. I don’t want to heavy handedly kill the discourse.
Good idea @clausy. I’m mindful that this topic could turn nasty (as I’ve experienced in the past when BLM is discussed, especially when anon members are allowed to participate) so I’ve voted for it to be closed
But obviously I am interested in the topic. I just hope people can avoid a) making the discussion personal b) implying that those who disagree with the BLM organisation and methods are “racist” c) straw man arguments.
I voted split. Take the politics out of the discussion on graffiti and put it in one of those private room members’ only type places. Because I’d feel the same about any slogan and I don’t want to feel I’m walking on eggshells if I want to make a comment on graffiti but can’t for fear of it being misinterpreted as a comment about BLM.
As per your earlier comment, I think everyone involved has made their points, no need to re-iterate. The question is really do other people want to contribute to the discussion. Personally I think there are better places to discuss these sorts of things.
I think it is perfectly reasonable to discuss the Waldram Park Road street art and its impact on the Forest Hill community. The original work also included inspirational messaging, though perhaps on not quite so an emotive topic.
There has been some excellent discussion in the last 24 hours on the social impact of street art. I found Fran_Payne’s post particularly insightful, as I did marymck’s post questioning it’s efficacy.
And of course, how this impacts the community is as equally relevant as discussion on traffic orders.
As for the issue of legality, I understood that permission was sought from the site owner for the original work. I’ve also been told - albeit second hand - that this current piece was also approved.
You beat me to it, I just cycled past and was thinking hang on, it’s still there.
I did like the banana though…
Anyway I went down to the food bank to help deliver some packages to help some people with their lives instead of watching you all argue about it. See this thread for details.. Yes I’m feeling smug. Sorry.
