Few have not heard of Banksy, the British graffiti artist who remains anonymous despite the growing fame of his works. Most of his works have political or social connotations and powerful metaphors. It is virtually impossible that you have not come across his work – even if unconsciously.
Have you seen the graffiti of a demonstrator throwing a bouquet of flowers instead of a Molotov’s cocktail or the one of a little girl letting a heart-shaped balloon fly away? I am sure you did. Bansky’s works are politically daring and controversial.
In 2005 and 2007 he painted graffiti on the Palestinian occupied territories wall. The activity sparked a discussion about the wall, and more broadly about Israeli politics and Palestine. In December last year as the West was dragging its feet about solving the refugee crisis Banksy’s graffiti of Steve Jobs as an immigrant appeared in the public space, reminding people that the Apple founder was also a son of Syrian immigrants.
Most graffiti is illegal, but then how illegal it is can be a very good indicator of the democratic state of a country. While in most countries you can get fined if caught with a spray can in your hand there are others where you can be detained and charged with a criminal offence.
This year in May two young activists in Azerbaijan were arrested on suspicion of painting graffiti on a statue of former Azerbaijani President Heidar Aliyev. The graffiti appeared on so-called “Flower Day”, which falls on the same day as Aliyev’s birthday. Pictures of the monument showed the inscription “Happy Slave Day” in Azeri, a play on the phrase “Happy Flower Day” and an obvious criticism of the Azerbaijani government.
Graffiti tends to be associated with people of free spirit who feel like expressing themselves in a public space. But the sprits are not always the good ones…None of the graffiti like No migrants! or America white again! ought to be ignored, for they show the xenophobic and racist demons that lay in society, the demons that we have seen awaken recently by politicians like Donald Trump, Nigel Farage or Marine Le Pen.
One of the darkest spirits involved in graffiti art at some point was Anders Breivik, the Norwegian far-right terrorist who killed 77 people in 2011. When a teenager, he used to be a tagger – a graffiti artist -who painted his nickname MORG in a meticulously developed font style in Oslo.
File: OBEY giant in Malaga, November 2013
Apart from taking political stances, graffiti artists often mock consumerism and globalization trends. The graffiti of the OBEY Giant is probably one if the most famous symbols of that discourse. Developed first as a sticker by Shepard Fairey, it has become one of the logos of our times.
The idea was to make the OBEY Giant so frequently present in the public space that people would be invited to give it a meaning, although according to the artist “OBEY has no actual meaning, the various reactions and interpretations of those who view it reflect their personality and the nature of their sensibilities.” Fairey calls the project an experiment in phenomenology – “the process of letting things manifest themselves.”
Title: Shepard Fairey painting in Malaga – November 2013
To see Banksy’s works you most likely need to travel to London but to have a face-to-face encounter with OBEY you need only to travel to Malaga. For a few years the city has been running a project called MAUS – Malaga Arte Urbano Soho in the quarter under the same name. The street artists of international fame are invited to leave their imprints on Malaga’s Soho walls. In 2013 Shepard Fairey came to Malaga to paint a huge mural behind the Museum of Contemporary Art. He did not miss the opportunity to leave OBEY’s faces around the city.
Apart from a recommendation to visit Malaga’s Soho quarter to see the works of one of the most famous graffiti artists, I invite you to look at the building’s walls and fences. There may be real art sprayed on them, some sassy messages that may make you think about the contemporary world; there may be slogans from political extremes or there may be…nothing, which may also be telling. For, in some countries, it is simply too dangerous to be into graffiti.
Title: Unknown artist, Chisinau, Moldova 2009
Author: Daria Paprocka
