art from the wall

The street art of Stokes Croft, Bristol, UK, and the impact it has on this community.

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One of a number of boards put up as part of an operation to renovate the Bear Pit - circa 2008 the bear pit was central Bristol's favourite pedestrian underpass come junkie infested mugging capital. Resident acts included toothless prostitutes and a collaborative of postcard punks, whose party piece was leaving hopeful students waiting for them to return with cheap pills (they weren't returning, and neither was the students money.) 

It is now a haven of impressive street art & installations, fruit & veg markets, creative types selling handmade goods and often live music. One occasionally still spots a special brew wielding 50-something talking to themselves though, and it does make one smile.

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Illegal parking loses against illegal painting...

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View of Westmoreland House from Armada Place. These buildings make up one of the biggest derelict sites in Bristol, most recently occupied in 1986 with some of the buildings empty even longer. Looking at the history of planning permission proposals gives an interesting insight into how the living standards in Bristol have changed in that time; an application was made in 1989 for the development of 63 flats, by 2011 this number had risen to 183.  

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Boards on Westmoreland House last night.

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Top: The view from the City Rd. junction in 2011. The Billboard on the right has been removed as a result of the campaign against corporate advertising in Stokes Croft.

Bottom: The new improved wall where it used to be.

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Turbo Island in 2011. This piece of land was bought for around £35,000 in 1985 so it could be used for corporate advertising, there is now a campaign running to reclaim the space for use by the local community. details at buybackturboisland.wordpress.com

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The Ashley Rd junction in Oct. 2011.

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Burning Candy crew - 2008

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Boards in front of what is now Cafe Kino as they looked in Dec 2008.

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The face of the infamous Clockwork nightclub in 2008. Demolished in 2011, the site where it stood (neighboring Blue Mountain) is still empty and unused, despite plans issued at the time for 'affordable student accommodation.' 

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The 'steps to nowhere' as they looked in December 2008. This staircase was flanked nightly by buskers, beggars and the homeless seeking somewhere sheltered to enjoy a special brew and catch a few Z's. The council has since banned super-strength beers and ciders from being sold on Stokes Croft and boarded up these steps as part of an operation to banish riff raff from the now official 'up and coming' area. When the boards first went up they were covered in emotional messages of complaint by the steps' evicted tenants.     

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Carriage works arch in 2008.

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Introduction.

The Street Art revolution of the past decade has sent the U.K and beyond into a paint fume induced frenzy. In the late 90's/early 00's Banksy (of whom you may or may not have heard) began the transfiguration of Street Art from the illegal countercultural fad that suburban grannies loved to hate; to the hottest topic of the nations most nose-up-turned Art Galleries. A movement that was later pushed world-wide by the phenomenon of Street Artist Shepard Fairey's un-commissioned propaganda poster becoming the most recognised image of the Obama campaign.

Even more recently, the forehead-generous UK Tory leader David Cameron decided he needed in on the newest craze in the political playground and bought Obama a piece by Graffiti artist Ben Eine as a 'thanks for having me at the White House' prezzie. Its clear that Cameron has since become something of an art critic from the hundreds of thousands he has spent removing it from our public places.

Street Art is Unique in that its Title refers only to its location, and hints nothing of its content or dating (as opposed to post modern nudist realism or other such more specific genres) and it is this attention to context that I want to focus on.

I'm lucky enough to live in one of the UK's street art hot-spots, the district of Stokes Croft, which sits slightly northeast of central Bristol. As well as creating a permanent back-catalogue of this particular area's ever changing face, I want to look at what happens in the streets where these works of art sit; what they mean; who looks at them; who chooses to ignore them; how they affect peoples' everyday lives and how the way people live affects them.