Day 6

I am so excited to learn more about Graffiti and murals. When I was in South Africa, we saw graffiti everywhere. A lot of dealt with politics or Nelson Mandela there was still more that was more personal or artistic  Below are some of the photos I took of that Grafiti. Like the documentary said, most of the South African graffiti during the 1980's was used as a form of Gurilla warfare during the fight against Apartheid. It was political in that it advocated for things such as peace and Nelson Mandela's freedom from incarceration as well as its categorization of being a form of political warfare. In South Africa, the complicated relationship between the three major races also paved the way for Graffiti Artists. People who were considered 'colored' (ie: they can't trace their heritage to an African tribe and aren't white) were left out of most parts of South African life. Graffiti became an avenue for this population to create their own culture: Graffiti. 

 In New York and Philly, a big driving point for artists is to simply be seen. After living in places like the Bronx where it felt like the city didn't care about you by bombing your home or leaving you with economic insecurity or no place to play except the streets, many wanted to say 'Hey I'm here. If you are going to bomb me then I'm going to bomb you back." This created an atmosphere where the artists are in a war with the society who wants to other them. Their way of getting back is by publicly bombing them (ie: creating graffiti) with their name. 

Pink was different from the usual NYC and Philly group of artists in that she faced a lot of sexism for trying to do what the men did. Instead of letting that defeat her, it became fuel for her to show them they're wrong.  Belx2, a Japanese artist, used graffiti both to create powerful women she wanted to emulate and portray the joy she felt from being a mother.