Our Places | Street Art
– What is Street Art?
– Why do we need to “Get Creative” with Street Art?
– Where do we need to “Get Creative” with Street Art?
– How do we “Get Creative” with Street Art?
– Street Art Links
What is Street Art?
“Street art is a form of artwork that is displayed in a community on its surrounding buildings, streets, and other publicly viewed surfaces. Many instances come in the form of guerrilla art, which is composed to make a public statement about the society that the artist lives within.
The work has moved from the beginnings of graffiti and vandalism to new modes where artists work to bring messages, or just simple beauty, to an audience.”
– https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Street_art
Why do we need to “Get Creative” with Street Art?
“from messages of hope to astonishing beauty emerging from the rubble, our cityscape is transformed.”
– Lianne Dalziel | Mayor of Christchurch
Street Art is our modern day visual postcard. ‘Wish You Were Here?’ photos are posted on social media. Selfies in front of Street Art from around the world, can be found throughout the internet.
In Christchurch, Street Art has become our “new” landmarks.
We have lost a lot of “iconic” buildings that were our landmarks, in Christchurch since the earthquakes. We knew our location and where we were in our suburbs, thanks to these landmarks.
What a difference it would make to Christchurch’s streetscape, if the blank shop walls facing the street, told a different part of our history/heritage, brightening up the visual landscape of the suburb.
Our Street Art would become interactive photo opportunities for not only the locals, but also our Christchurch visitors to the area and tourists.
Another great way to showcase our different communities/suburbs throughout the world, with photos posted on Facebook, Pinterest and Instagram, which reinforces the Street Art as a “new” landmark.
Street art exists worldwide. Internationally known street artists travel to different locations to promote and exhibit their artwork.
Where do we need to “Get Creative” with Street Art?
“Seeing the street art of Christchurch can be an emotional experience. New Zealand’s third-largest city still shows the scars of the 2011 earthquake, which brought down buildings and cracked open streets in the CBD. This fractured urban landscape has spurred responses from artists ever since — first, from guerilla scrawlers who would sneak past the barricades of the Red Zone, then increasingly in the form of commissioned murals as local officials cottoned on to the healing powers of art.”
– https://www.hostelworld.com/blog/street-art-graffiti/ | “The 13 Best Cities in the World to see Jaw-Dropping Street Art”
How do we “Get Creative” with Street Art?
Christchurch was devastated by 2 earthquakes in 2010 and 2011 and as a result 8000 homes and 80 percent of the central city were condemned. It wasn’t until two and half years later that the city was able to host its first major cultural event – Rise Street Art Festival held at Canterbury Museum produced by Australasian street art organiser Oi YOU!.
– https://www.streetart.co.nz/rise/
The event attracted over 248,000 visitors (the most visited show in the Museum’s history) and saw 15 murals painted across the devastated central city.
The murals became community icons for the re-emergence and rebuild of Christchurch.
Two further Oi YOU! Festivals, both under the name of Spectrum featured large internal exhibitions as well as adding to the city’s stock of murals.
– https://www.streetart.co.nz/spectrum-2015/
Since Rise over 40 murals have been produced in the central city and the Lonely Planet guide to global street art featured Christchurch as one of the best cities in the world to experience the art form.
Street Art Links
– Watch This Space: Gallery & Map of Street Art locations in Christchurch
– Watch This Space: Brandon Warrell
– Watch This Space: Dcypher
– Watch This Space: Flox
– Watch This Space: Fin Dac
– Watch This Space: Erika Pearce
– Shapeshifter – “Oculus” YouTube Video | Christchurch Street Art