photowalk: 16 aug 09

The underground grafitti art movement in Melbourne's laneways has lasted for decades, and has brought fame from artists as well as criticism from local councils.


Recently, an age old debate has been sparked by the Australian National Trust regarding the conservation of grafitti art.


"...graffiti art is an important part of the spectrum of cultural and design activities that Melburnians engage with", according to the National Trust.


Of course, grafitti has come a long way since it started. It is now widely recognised as a form of art instead of some mindless vandalism by some street hooligans.


Of course, not all parties would agree with the conservation of grafitti art.


Andrew Mac, Melbourne artist : "The work is ephemeral. It's not meant to last. It lasts purely as long as the weather and other graffiti artists allow it to last"


"When you interfere with what is an organic process like that, you actually make the graffiti stagnant and what makes graffiti thrilling and interesting to the public and to other graffiti artists is the fact that it's a never-ending, changing, kind of living art form."


Unfortunately some parties do not care less about these works of art, and hence stain them liberally, like this example.


Scott Hilditch of Grafitti Hurts Australia laments the conservation of such street art because "It clearly sends the wrong message that we as a society are going to be accepting of vandalism and other anti-social behaviour, and that it doesn't matter that it costs local government over $260 million a year to clean up"


Of course, $260 million required to clean up unwanted grafitti could be used for other beneficial programmes that could potentially benefit the community.


After the lanes, I headed to the Yarra to take some additional evening shots.


Comparing the two images, it is interesting to note than the latter image below has more intense colours which I prefer, rather than the one above. They were both photographed within minutes of each other.



This was a 30-second exposure, but the rain came and ruined it all at the end [ you can see a rain drop at the center of the picture]. We can never control the weather no matter how hard we try, ain't it?

cheers