Week 3 - Housing Crises and HOTEL, Graffiti as Protest

Hi guys! I was pretty sick this week, so I only have a couple of minor updates. This post is going to be a lot more information-heavy.

This week I was able to finalize a list of artists I plan on making portfolios for. I have pictures and examples of some of their work to share. Following is a link to some pictures I took of the artists’ work. There are many more artists on the list that I haven’t gotten pictures of yet, so stay tuned for the portfolios!

Link to Images (Note: MFB’s tag accompanies their trademark thumbs-up character)

A lot of these artists seem to be working together as well, with similar color schemes and locations. A few examples are shown through:

HIDRO and CHUBY with the same color schemes. MFB tag on far left. THOR tag in between as well as on the barrier.

THOR and BABY in yellow-orange, as well as a HOTEL tag with what seems to be a pressure-washer tool.

I was also able to start making a list of questions to go on a survey about graffiti. I took a deeper look into the book Graffiti by Jay “J.SON” Edlin and I plan to include descriptions from that book in my documentary.

Something that shows the use of graffiti to make political statements is the graffiti around Lake Merritt in Oakland. The graffiti speaks on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

I think this instance, as well as the spray painting of abandoned skyscrapers in LA, shows the way that graffiti is used as a form of protest.

The three abandoned skyscrapers in LA were under development from 2015, until construction was halted in 2019. Since then, those skyscrapers have just been taking up space that could be used to construct more housing, or any useful architecture. Graffiti artists painted these skyscrapers, making a statement that it wasn’t personal property or an actively used building.

From NBC News, “I think it’s almost a metaphor,” she said. “We start things and don’t finish them, and then we get mad. People end up losing money, and then people end up losing jobs because they’re not working.”

There’s a really interesting article that includes an interview with artist ACTUAL. Here is the link: https://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/art/2024/02/08/los-angeles-graffiti-building/

There was another scenario in 2021 due to a housing crisis in which UC Berkeley was hit with graffiti as its development displaced large amounts of people. The links to the articles are here: https://itsgoingdown.org/bay-area-sees-graffiti-in-solidarity-with-those-displaced-by-uc-berkeley-development/

https://www.berkeleyside.org/2021/03/09/uc-berkeley-development-peoples-park-vandalism-graffiti

I hope you checked out the links, and I’ll see you next time!