Graffiti – A wall and a thought

I

When does graffiti become art ? – or vandalism a celebrated historical artefact ?

The Aboriginal people of Australia were drawing images on rocks 20,000 years before the word ‘art’ was invented. These Dreamtime paintings told the story of their creation and were a visual history book to pass down thegenerations. The depictions could also impart powers to the tribe. Paint a picture of many animals and a good hunting trip would surely come your way. These nomadic tribes are long gone but on the walls of caves and hollows in Kakadu National Park many of their pictures survive.

I

I

I

I

I

I

I

There is little evidence remaining of where the Berlin wall once stood. The wide scar that 
bisected the city at Potsdamer Platz has been filled in and built upon and the former wasteland is now home to major international corporations. A monolithic slice is all that now remains, surrounded by towering new offices.  Its coat of protest that once shouted is now reduced to little more than a sanitised whisper.

I

I

I

I

I

I

I

The quiet Belgium town of Poperinge was a much livelier place a hundred years ago. At any one time there were a quarter of a million British soldiers transiting to and from the front line trenches nearby. For some of them though the town was their final destination. They had been accused of cowardice or desertion in the face of the enemy and for the sake of morale and discipline, had to be made examples of.

Military courts were held in the town hall and following a brisk trial and an inevitable guilty verdict, they were consigned to a cell in the building. At dawn the following morning they were shot in the courtyard. The names and messages they scratched into the plaster walls of the cell still record their last thoughts.

I

I

I

I

I

I

Edward Elgar may have been the first musician to work at these recording studios in London’s Abbey Road, but it was the Beatles who made the place famous. Not just for making several of their albums there but also for using the zebra crossing outside for an album cover. Its association with the band eventually helped the building to become protected against future development.

The permanent webcam shows a stream of tourists antagonising motorists as they re-enact the Beatles march over the crossing. They can also be spied upon as they scrawl messages to their musical heroes on the Grade 2 listed property. Sadly few of them to Elgar.

May 28, 2012 | Categories: Uncategorized | Tags: abbey, aboriginie, at, australia, beatles, belgium, berlin, cave, crossing, dawn, germany, kakadu, martin norris, one, painting, photograhy, platz, poperinge, potsdamer, recording, road, shot, studios, travel, wall, war, world, zebra | 1 Comment