By Sarah Harrison 0
TABLE of Table of Contents 1 Editorial 2 Street Art 3-4 Street Celebrity 5-6 Street Pavement Artist 7-8 Street Artist 9-10 Street Musician 11-13 Street Performers 14-16 Street Issues 17-18 Street Protest 19-20 Street Scape 21-22 1
EDITORIAL The streets around us are filled with art, music and people s difficulties. These sights inspire, amaze and sometimes sadden the people who see, listen or watch them. They contain all sorts of things from street art, to homeless people with no other option but to sit at the side of the street and beg. We do not always choose or even want to see these things but they are still there and are everywhere we go. A famous quote from Shakespeare was All the world s a stage and all the men and women merely players as he said, we all have our important parts in life, even if we don t realise it, we all bring something new to the world. It could be the smallest but most meaningful bit of new graffiti or a guitar player with slightly different tunes. Because there is never one right way of doing things just as there is no one way of expressing yourself. Every way is different but still unique and important. It is important to open your mind to every new way of expressing yourself even if you do not necessarily approve of it as some people don t approve of graffiti or some strange type of music. No matter how strange some people can seem to you they are all important in this world and have a right to show that. You have to accept everyone for themselves even if you do not like the way they look or some of the things they do. Of course it may still not be right to graffiti other people s property if they do not want you to but still everyone in this world needs to be more understanding. So this magazine is to show you a different way of looking at everything. Editor: Sarah Harrison 2
STREET Hosier Lane is one of the most well-known laneways in Melbourne because of its street art. It features work of all different kinds of street artists and has some of the most amazing street art in Melbourne. It is located near Flinders Street Station and is one of the only places in Melbourne where street art is legal. It is also home to the living room which is a health project run by youth groups for homeless people, and since it is legal to do street art there it is also used by many artists to display their work. It can be slightly different every time you visit because of the ongoing art that is sprayed onto its walls nearly every day. Tourists from all around the world visit this lane when they come to Melbourne and it is often said that no trip to Melbourne would be complete without going to Hosier Lane. It has become a popular spot for wedding and fashion photography and is also the place to go if you like upmarket cocktail lounges such as Misty and MoVida. However, although many see it as an amazing place representing some of Melbourne s most beautiful art, others see it as a kind of vandalism that has no place in Melbourne s culture. But what is hidden behind colourful pictures is a more serious message, often political and showing the worries or thoughts of the artist. 3
The perfect example of this was in late 2012 after a woman named Jill Meagher was raped and killed, an unknown artist showed his sadness through his art. He sprayed rest in peace Jill in giant letters on the walls of Hosier Lane. This is how many artists manage to portray what they think. Instead of just saying there thoughts it is easier and more noticeable to paint them. Through this they show a new unique way of thinking that people may not ever have been seen before, or make people question things they have never thought about before. But although this one of the most amazing places of street art in Melbourne it is not the only place and there are amazing pictures are sprayed all over Melbourne, hidden in back streets and alleyways. 4
STREET Banksy is a well-known but mysterious artist, who has work sprayed in many parts of the world. His work is done in a distinctive stencilling technique that often has a deeper meaning to it than just a picture on a wall. He was born in England in 1974 and raised in Bristol. He then trained as a butcher but later became involved in graffiti after being inspired by some local artists. He started off doing his graffiti free hand but then changed to stencils when he realised how much quicker it was. He says he was inspired to do stencils from one time when he was under a rubbish lorry hiding from the police. He noticed the stencilled serial number and decided to try doing his art like that. He is known to strongly disagree with the government s thoughts of graffiti being a form of vandalism. He often even adds 3d pieces to his graffiti. He has made a movie called Exit Through the Gift Shop and was nominated for an Academy Award and wrote a book called Wall and Piece In 2005 with the help of some friends he smuggled his work into four American museums without being caught and left it there on display. He also did a similar thing in Paris and London. 5
Even though he doesn t sell his art, art auctioneers have been known to attempt to sell his work, although it is on a wall and then leave the problem of removing it up to the buyer. In 2010 there was an uproar when a stencilled rat painted by him was accidently cleaned off the wall of Hosier Lane. many people were horrified and angry. It was the last of the three rats he had painted when he came to Melbourne in 2003 because the rest had gradually been graffitied over by other artists. Despite all this publicity he still manages to keep his real name hidden from the media. 6
STREET. Pepe Gaka is an Italian artist living off the donations of the public. His real name is Giuseppe but he goes by the name of Pepe. On his sign he has up next to where he works he says he is an Italian Madonnaro, which is an Italian word meaning street artist, chalk artist or pavement artist. His work is amazing, it is all done with chalk and he has incredible skill. He lives in Sydney and his full time job is sitting on the pavement doing chalk drawings on canvas. He is one of the nicest, friendliest people there is and is happy to talk to anyone. If you ask him a question he will come over to you and start chatting and is so friendly. When he is finished his artwork he never sells it despite the fact that he could probably get quite a lot of money for it. He gives his artwork away to charity to raise money by selling it, and then starts a new drawing. He can speak Italian, English and Japanese and says so on his sign, encouraging people to come and talk to him. One of his paintings was recorded as the biggest chalk drawing in the world at 6.3 square metres. 7
He says Street painting is my life. Street art is more than my job and passion; it is all I think about. I do paintings on the street and try and to bring joy to people all around the world, I am living in Sydney Australia. After travelling in many countries I have finally found in Australia my second home. I have fallen in love with this amazing country and with the people. He also has a great memory and takes notice of everything. Although I only talked to him for a couple of seconds one day, the next day when I went back he remembered me despite having talked to heaps of people. He also invites people to add him on Facebook. On his page he has lots of messages from people but one that stood out was a message from a lady who said she had seen his pictures and met him a year ago. She were saying happy birthday and commented that he probably didn t remember her, but he commented back saying he did remember her, and it seemed to be true as he made some inside joke that she understood. It seemed amazing that even after a year he still remembered this random passer-by who he had probably only spoken to for a couple of minutes. He has done many different drawings and it seems like an amazing job, he loves it and is incredibly talented. 8
STREET This is Cam, he lives in Melbourne and loves to do street art, so I interviewed him to see how it started and how he does it. When did you first start doing street art? Well I started doing street art just over a year ago. Just with a mate we were originally making stencils to put on t-shirts then my mate told me he was selling his stencils to this guy who was spraying them up on the street. When I heard this I was like shit wow I'd never do that that's illegal! Then a few weeks later my mate said he had a few cans of paint why not go put up a few of our stencils. I thought hmmm ok, what's the worst that can happen. So we went out one night and put up a few stencils I think they were of a guy with an X for a head. After that I started going out more regularly and yeah I guess that was how it started. What inspired you to do street art? What inspired me? Well that little rebel in me I think, I like the idea that you can write a really meaningful message on a wall for everyone to see and share your opinion with the world. And if it s an antigovernment message then they can t do much about it and maybe other people agree and start a movement. Also the likes of Banksy and Melbourne's own Ha-Ha and the ever fresh crew members Rone and Meggs were a huge influence on me and my work. 9
Do you use stencils or do it freehand? I use a mixture, I like stencils because they are quick and you get a nice finish on them so when I go out alone I usually just use one layer of stencils. But if I'm doing a legal piece and have more time I like to use free hand. It's loads of fun just chilling out listening to some music and I ve had to do a runner more than once, but I ve never been caught painting away and just playing with your image. At home I tend to use more stencils for my canvas work just because I can do a big multicolour image by layering the stencil. Have you ever got in trouble for doing street art? No not yet I ve had to do a runner more than once but I've never been caught and gotten in trouble. 10
STREET What s your name? Madonna Holmes What instrument do you busk with? Mostly violin, but sometimes voice or recorder. How do you find busking, do you enjoy it? Yes, I love it but it is sometimes terrifying and sometimes really hard when there is no response from the passes by. When that happens I make it about the music being a gift whether anyone likes it or not. Not about the money, it s about the music. Anyway I enjoy it if I am listening to myself. How long have you been playing violin? For 3 years as a child, then stopped and had about a 15 year gap then started again and now for about 15 years. Can you play any other instruments? A bit of guitar and I m also teaching myself piano. 11
When did you first start busking? About 11 years ago, I would go busking for an hour and make enough money to buy a pizza and a movie ticket and have a night out. Where do you normally busk? I have never really tried train stations or that sort of thing. I mostly busk outside Coles and Big W, and normally at certain times of the day, like just after school drop off and pick up and also around midday. Also often on a Saturday morning and Thursday evenings and it s good to do the same place, same time because people recognise you and they start to feel like they know you. The children who come past every week are most attracted by it usually and some parents will have to drag their kids past but others will just let them stay for as long as they want. In one place I used to busk there would always be the same girl there who would always dance and her father would just let her stay as long as she wanted, it was really sweet. How often do you busk? Not as much anymore but I used to do it once or twice a week, there have been stages that I went through where I would busk every second day though. What inspired you to start playing an instrument? I always loved music as a child and just wanted to play violin, I had already played guitar before that for a couple of years. Where is the nicest/coolest/most fun place you have ever played? Nothing really adventurous, actually one time I went to Sorrento and busked every day for 5 days after New Year s Eve, I was busking outside a fish and chip shop and the man who owned the shop was so funny. He would often come out and dance or request a song, it was so much fun. 12
Would you like to do music professionally? I ve thought about it before and I used to sing professionally as a teenager but I was never really that serious about doing music professionally. Has anyone ever complained about your music/playing while you re busking? Oh yeah, totally, one time I was playing Christmas carols outside Coles and a security guard told me to leave and threatened to call the police. I refused to leave and he called the police. I stayed there until they came, but then when they pulled up I quickly left. I think the security guard was just taking his job a bit too seriously. Do people ever give you anything apart from money? Yeah, one time I was busking on Boxing Day in the Dandenong s and this woman came along and started talking to me. She said she had no money at the moment but she went off to get some money, she couldn t get any for some reason but instead she bought me a little lavender pillow which I still have. I ve got other things as well but that one stood out the most. Do you busk for money or for fun or both? If I didn t need money I wouldn t busk at all. When I m broke I need to busk to get some money but I never count the money to make sure I have enough before I leave, and I never wait till I have a certain amount. Often I give myself a certain amount of time and then I stay there for that long and leave after that no matter how much money I have, unless I m having fun and want to keep going, then I give myself a bit longer. Can you tell me any particular interesting or difficult experiences while busking? Sometimes it is freezing cold and my hands and feet are freezing and it s quite hard to play because my fingers are so cold. When this happens I ll go off to have a coffee then come back. Sometimes people, often they are old ladies, will put their fingers in their ears which is a bit discouraging. It s so lovely when children are fascinated and loving the music and the parents let them stay and listen. 13
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STREET Every Wednesday and Friday just next to Flinders St Station there is a gathering of homeless people because at 8:30pm a few vans turns up offering the homeless people food and drinks. One of these vans is owned by a group called Rosie s Soup Kitchen, another belongs to Vinnie s and another to the Salvos. These are called Soup Kitchens but despite the name it is not a kitchen as some might think but a van that comes with volunteers who give out food and drinks to the homeless. They are run by volunteers that want to help out and most have become good friends with the people they serve food to. One of the volunteers said that he has been coming out to help run the soup vans for a couple of years since he was in year 12. He said that most of the people who gathered there are there every Most of them just week and he knows them quite well. He also told us sleep out on the although a few of them manage to find places to stay overnight most of them just street in the cold sleep out on the street in the cold. After getting something to eat most of the homeless people were just sitting down, leaning against the wall of Flinders St Station or talking to the volunteers. Most of them ate without talking to anyone and seemed to prefer to just mind their own business rather than get to know anyone. Nearly all of them were wearing old, shabby, clothes which didn t look like they d been washed in a while, which was not surprising since they were homeless. Stories over a polystyrene cup 17
The vans from the different charities were parked all along Flinders St, from near the main entrance of the station almost down to Elizabeth St. Although a few of the homeless people where friendly a lot of them did not want to talk and were only there to get something to eat. When one of the volunteers found out it was someone s birthday everyone gathered around and sang happy birthday to him. The whole thing had a nice vibe but also a little bit of a wary vibe. Not all the homeless people seemed completely trusting and a few of them seemed to just want to be left alone once they had some food and a coffee. This seemed fair enough, it wouldn t be easy being homeless and a lot of them probably don t need people trying to pry into their lives. It seems like a great thing to do and all the volunteers seem very friendly, they are not paid to do it, they just do it because they want to. I could not take photos because it didn t seem to be the right thing to do. I doubt they would have appreciated me taking photos of them like they were a tourist attraction and they are exactly the same as anyone else except without homes and maybe not dressed as well. 18
STREET On Sunday 16 June a large crowd of determined citizens gathered for one purpose, to show their support for the refugees and try to make the government close the Manus Island Detention Centre and other detention centres. Over 5000 people are currently detained in detention centres and some are starting to self-harm, others even attempting suicide. These issues caused a mass of people to gather outside the Exhibition Building with banners, posters and signs trying to end this. Everyone was silent as some speakers including Pamela Curr, Misha Coleman and Adam Bandt talked while standing on the back of a truck. They were making their opinion very clear about the situation with the refugees, saying how terrible it was that refugees were not allowed to come into the country freely. All speeches were met with loud applause and cheering and after they were all finished a man named Les Thomas started to sing for everyone, playing guitar and singing a song about one particular refugee girl called Ranjini. It was a very touching performance with real feeling and the man had a nice voice. Then the crowd started the parade, led by some dancers and a man with a megaphone shouting out phrases which the people shouted back loudly. People with megaphones were scattered all through the parade, shouting things like Refugees-yes! Racism-no! Detention centres have, Got-To Go! Or Lock up Gillard! Throw away the key! We-won t-stop till we free-the-refugees! 19
The leader of the protest made her point very clear saying everyone deserves human rights, the refugees have nothing and they deserve our help, they do not deserve to be shut up in detention centres for days/years. It is not a crime to seek asylum, so it should not be treated like it is. These were the thoughts that seemed to be going through everyone s minds as they walked down the street. Their signs voiced their thoughts saying things like a fair go for refugees or end mandatory detention now. The parade went all the way from the Melbourne Exhibition Buildings to the Fitzroy Town Hall The crowd became bigger and bigger as we walked along and everyone was holding their signs high and shouting loudly, trying to tell the world about the injustice and that they wanted to change. The shouters with the megaphones didn t pause their protesting for a second and obviously really believed in the protest, encouraging everyone to shout louder. 20
STREET The city of Melbourne can be a very beautiful place, especially at night when it is lit up it looks amazing. Taken off Prince s Bridge 21
Flinders St Station St Pauls Cathedral Flinders St Station from across the Yarra 22
THANKYOU A massive thanks to everyone who helped me with this project My Mentor - Elizabeth Reardon Everyone I interviewed or talked to Mum, Dad, Tim and Chris Fiona, my class and my friends And anyone else who helped I am so grateful to you all 23