Our weekly focus on the moving image and art in the streets. And other oddities.
Now screening : 1. BCN Rise & Fall. Documentary History of Street Art in Barcelona
BSA Special Feature: BCN Rise & Fall, Documentary History of Street Art in Barcelona
The
permissive nature of the city created a golden age of art in the streets, unencumbered
by the police or the city itself, an
exciting destination for artists like Banksy, Space Invader, Os Gemeos, Aryz,
BTOY, Kenor, Mark Bode, and Obey – but really it was an aerosol family reunion with
relatives arriving from around the world.
Today we feature a well-researched and presented re-telling of the golden age of muralism born here in the first few years of the 2000s, spawning careers of many and attracting culture watchers of all kinds. As is the case with gentrifying spaces, the next phase after artists make everything pop with energy and new ideas, the vultures moved in to capitalize on it, and kill it.
Strict laws, strict penalties, and putting on a nice commercial face for the corporations and shoppers. Later, the creative spirit seems quashed – and the city that gave birth to a stunning spectacle seems completely unaware of how they shot themselves in the foot – until they have to pay to see the stuff in a museum exhibition later.
Now years
later we have a clearer view of what transpired and why thanks directors Aleix Gordo Hostau and Gustavo López Lacalle, who painstakingly
construct and deconstruct the story through colorful stories and an ocean of
imagery. Political and sometimes divisive? Sure. A form of speech, undoubtedly.
Pity it is manipulated sometimes to fit an agenda, even when the artist hadn’t
intended it to be.
BCN Rise & Fall. Documentary History of Street Art in Barcelona
The demonstrations and protests in support of George Floyd and against racism and police brutality continue in many cities across the US. Similarly, new reports from other countries of people marching in solidarity have brought the message to an international audience. Today we have a new mural by Tim Marsh sent to us by BSA contributor and photographer Lluis Olive who shares these images from Barcelona, Spain.
As one may expect, subtleties of language may get lost in translation, so we’ll briefly mention why “Black Lives Matter” is not the same as “All Lives Matter”, and in fact the latter is received by many in the US as a dismissal of blacks, a de-facto denial of the suffering of people in an effort to erase the magnitude of a deliberately designed unfair system that threatens black people’s lives.
First, it’s good to know that Black Lives Matter is actually an organization founded by three black women in 2013 – used as a hashtag to begin with – soon spawning a movement. The BLM name came to be known as a response to the casual denigration of the sanctity of the life of Trayvon Martin, who was shot by George Zimmerman and who was found “not guilty.” So, today using the term is directly tied to that organization and time no matter the current context.
Secondly, as a slogan, it is directly implied that the dominant white culture has done everything it can to deny the humanity to persons with dark skin, whether through a thousand tiny subtleties on a daily basis or through big obvious examples like state-sanctioned violence – and a gamut in between. It is a defiant statement that is made so obvious in intent that people cannot mistake its meaning. Consequently, for many, saying “All Lives Matter” is yet one more example of denigration, a sideways denial of the utter toxicity of racism and its impact, a re-direction away from the dire facts.
We know
that our international friends, like this artist here, are undoubtedly trying
to be inclusive when they say “All Lives Matter”. We just wanted to share that
some Americans won’t understand it as such, and they may even interpret the
slogan as an underhanded insult to blacks and other persons of color. After
all, Women’s Rights wouldn’t even be an issue if women’s rights were equally encoded
by law and absolutely insured by a fair process in greater society. Until then
we’ll talk about Women’s Rights, GLBTQ Rights, Disabled Rights, etcetera.
Black Lives
Matter.
UPDATE: Since publishing this article we received a message from the artist of this work above. He let us know that he had already painted over this slogan with “Black Lives Matter” – only a day after he first painted it and not as a result of this article. He had in fact not understood the implications and once he did he wanted to be clear with his intentions. This is a win for everyone, and to whatever extent we can share information and ideas to raise our collective awareness with each other and learn from each other, we say “yes!”
PLEASE TAKE THE TIME TO READ. First wall after the lock down. I wanted to paint something else, but the news over the world have made me react. What the actual fuck, people. It seems that all over the world, racism has been increasing lately…
This is just an example of what white supremacism is causing over the
world. The latest news happened in the USA, but some similar stories
happened lately in france too, With people from other origins. . This is why at first i used the sentence “All lives matter”. And then some of you explained that white supremacists were using this beautiful phrase to protest against the protests. Which led me to go correct the text on the wall. Which leaves me with a wierd feeling, like forgetting about ALL the other cases. AND I REALLY HOPE TO SEE YOU ALL SUPPORTING THEIR CAUSE TOO.
I strongly encourage ALL the people over the world to keep fighting.
Bring justice to all those abused by the police, and by all acts of
racism. MAKE RACISTS ASHAMED. BE ANTI-RACIST All my support goes to all the people protesting, and fighting against racism, all over the world. ✊✊🏻✊🏼✊🏽✊🏾✊🏿
Hispanic and African American communities have suffered disproportionately due do entrenched social and economic disparities in American society during the COVID-10 pandemic. Not only are larger proportions of each community affected by the illness, they are also heavily represented as caretakers and front-line workers.
While the systemic inequalities are also fueling the current demonstrations and abuses of people and press in 10s of cities across the country in ways that shock the conscience, we turn briefly here to honor the work of those who have helped our families and our friends with the virus outbreak.
Cuban-American land artist and contemporary artist Jorge Rodriguez Gerada and his team have been in Queens the past few days painting this enormous mural to celebrate the heroism of our front line workers. The most diverse population in the US, Queens is truly a symbol for the harmonious possibilities of people living and working together that defies any right wing ideologue – with an estimated 800 languages being spoken in this fair borough.
So its undeniably
appropriate that Gerada chose this location in the heart of Queens entitled
‘Somos La Luz,’ (We are the Light), which memorializes the late Dr. Decoo, a
Latino physician who lost his life after battling this pandemic in NYC. A
striking portrait to be seen from the sky, it is a broad gesture of gratitude
from all New Yorkers to those who truly have our collective and individual best
interests at heart every day.
This
project was curated by @henryrmunozlll, sponsored by @SOMOSCare and with
production assistance by @GreenPointInnovations / @GreenPoint.EARTH. Mr. Gerada
says he is proud to partner with the @queensmuseum, @elmuseo del
Barrio @maketheroadny and @NYCParks on this incredible project.
Part of the ongoing drama that your life becomes as someone who knows street art is you never feel like you are alone on the street. The appearance of a tag or an artwork reminds of you people and it becomes part of a continuum of communication you have with them, even if they left this missive a long time previous, it may feel like a new salutation from an old friend, or a mystery-cloaked announcement from a new one.
Brooklyn street art collective FAILE just appeared with these new pieces, after being absent for a couple of years. On the streets of BK for more than two decades, here are three new stencils of collaged images – one that we’ve seen before and two that look new to us. Some things change, some stay the same.
The murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis on Monday, the murder of Ahmaud Arbery while jogging in Georgia in February, the racist threats and intimidation toward Christian Cooper over the Memorial Day Holiday while he was merely “birding” in Central Park in New York City, Breonna Taylor shot, unarmed in her apartment in March in Louisville; These are the recent examples, but there are more, thousands more…
Street artists and graffiti
writers around the world are responding visually to current events with new works
on the street. Sometimes it is a full-blown community mural or a hand-posted
sign. Other times it is the scrawl of a vandal in text – a visual equivalent to
a scream in the night. When it comes to issues of race and identity, many so-called
western societies are now adding a deliberate massive social and economic dislocation
to the cauldron; one where nearly the whole of the middle class is sliding into
serfdom – and the police are acting like a military.
A street artist from one of the centers of this national uprising who goes by the name HOT TEA tells us about a project he just took to the streets.
“I had to do something for George, being that I live in Minneapolis and am so fed up with police harassment and injustice,” he says. We projected his image on very iconic Minneapolis structures. The feedback while they were being projected was overwhelmingly positive and everyone wanted to help. We need to stick together and make sure that change starts to finally happen.”
BROOKLYN STREET ART LOVES YOU MORE EVERY DAY
