That’s not graffiti. THIS is graffiti

I don’t make a secret of my fascination with street art. Or graffiti, if you wish.

Not tagging, where idiots practice writing their initials or their tag or childhood drawings of Snoopy.

Living in the inner-west, there’s a LOT of all of the above. But it’s the street art that I love. And so much of is stunning. There’s even a genuine Banksy stencil in Enmore.

We have an external wall that has been painted many times by a local guy. Don’t know his name, but every now and again he comes by and asks if he and his mates can re-do the space. They supply the spray cans, we provide the canvas. By us giving them permission, they’re not breaking any laws. We love talking to them as we come and go and while the smell of paint is gross, I like that we’re giving them a creative outlet.

But lately there’s been a hint of a turf war around Enmore. Nasty messages being left on walls that have had hours… days… spent on them. Creating something visually beautiful, often thought-provoking or funny.

This is the latest:

Technically the cat one is older, but it’s the same sentiment as all the new messages. Writing nasty shit like this just goes against the ethos of street art and street artists. This is tagging in its ugliest form.

Not noice.

This is the part where I say “back in my day…”

From today’s news:

The South Australian Metropolitan Fire Service (MFS) says it is worrying that two girls lost last night in a stormwater drain raised the alert on a social networking site rather than ringing 000.

OH. MY. GOD.

What’s happened to our youth when they’d think of Facecrack before, oh you know, calling the emergency number.

:headdesk:

I always thought of 000 as one of those ‘common knowledge’ things in life. Apparently I’m old-fashioned and a fuddy-duddy!

Although, I have to admit that my second thought was “wow, you can get mobile phone reception in a drain?”

It's Gaol, not Jail

I’ve always been a bit… particular… about the Australian English spelling of “gaol”. As in, not “jail”. I think it’s linked to memories of my childhood when I would read and re-read (and re-read) books about the history of my home town of Grafton that had a multitude of references to Grafton Gaol.

And those stunning Jacarandas.

As the world gets smaller and smaller, Australia’s turning more and more to American English-spelling. Makes sense when you consider how big America is (and how much I enjoy perving on their President), but American English is still a breakaway from real English!

Whenever I see a news article online using “jail”, I call them on the spelling. I’ve done it on SMH, ABC Online, and SBS News’ Twitter account. I never get a reply.

Earlier this year I read Bill Bryson’s Mother Tongue and now I’m even more determined to not let American English take over:

We’re not America, FFS. Let’s spell it “gaol” and not “jail”, okay?

* My sub-editor has pointed out that we speak English, not Australian (or American, etc.). Blah blah blah. You get the gist of what I mean, right?

In defence of street artists

Lately there’s been a lot of talk about graffiti in Sydney. Now that I’m 30 and listen to AM radio, I’ve heard a a lot of talkback on the topic.

I’ve gotten so close to ringing the radio (oh my god, I really am turning into my mother) because the close-minded opinion that graffiti artists just do it to piss people off was, well, pissing me off.

The word graffiti is being used far too broadly—graffiti really is moreso about illegal artworks and “tagging” (I hate tagging). Street art refers to those beautifully thought-out and executed pieces where most-often the artists have gained permission of the owners to decorate their vertical real estate.

Me? I’m a fan of street art. If I had that kind of talent with a spray can, I’d be going for it, too. And I really do hate tagging – it’s thoughtless and it’s a spray-can equivalent of a dog taking a whizz on every blade of grass in the neighbourhood.

Our garage wall had been covered in graffiti – meaningless tags and spray drips that made it look more like a training ground for junior street artists. Then late last year we saw a group of guys working on a wall near us that ended up looking like this:

We got to talking to the group of guys and offered them our tacky garage wall as a canvas. Turns out that most street artists get the permission of the property owners (or in our case, renter) and go as far as getting contact details of the property owners so that they have a fallback position if the cops start asking questions. Cause they know that doing it without permission is, you know, illegal.

The guys we met over the course of a few weeks while they worked on this wall as well as hours, we found them all to be intelligent, articulate and most of them had day jobs and this was just their creative outlet after hours.

I like that.

And I have since had greater respect for the street art I see around Enmore, Newtown, St Peter’s and other places around Sydney.Yes, I know there are some bad apples around, but aren’t there always in social groupings?

I’m making it my mission to educate everyone around me that there’s a difference between graffiti and street art and that there is a hell of a lot of street art-talent out there.

And for the record, ever since our garage wall has been done up, there has been NO MORE TAGGING on our roller door. Kinda goes to show that there is a level of respect for each other’s talent in the street art world.

I wrote about the blue monkey here.

Boycott Pacific Brands!

Edit: to steal Fiona’s idea, the pet name for this project is Going Commando For a Cause :o)

So the saga continues with Pacific Brands and their decision to sack almost 2,000 Aussies and send production work overseas while their execs still take home big bikkies in the most unstable economic situation this generation has seen.

The Media™ has mainly mentioned that Bonds and Holeproof are under the Pacific Brands umbrella. I own a LOT of Bonds and Holeproof under and outer wear and if I owned other brands of knickers I’d definitely be wearing them instead of my Bonds and Holeproof brands in support of the men and women who will soon go without a regular pay packet.

I decided to check out the Pacific Brands web site (refuse to link to them in my own personal <a href> protest) and holy crap there are so many other brands that I have to steer clear of

• Bonds
• Berlei
• Holeproof
• Antz Pants
• Hestia
• Jockey
• Rio
• Playtex
• Razzamatazz
• Voodoo

… and that’s just in the underwear section! Then there’s the outwear, sportswear, homeware and footwear sections. Sweet jeebus!

So I haven’t quite worked out how I can manage it, but I still plan to boycott Pacific Brands until someone knocks some sense into them and decide to do their bit for the Australian economy and for their Australian employees.

Who’s with me?

So if you’re so inclined, steal this pic and post it wherever you like. Take a stand for the 1,800 Aussies who are getting screwed right now.

Yes, I know businesses need to be ruthless to stay alive, but they got it wrong this time. Taking government funding, giving execs pay rises and then moving production overseas at the detriment of 1,800 workers’ livelihoods AINT NO WAY TO DO IT.