Saturday 13 July 2019

Walls And Messages.

       I tend to go on about a presence on the street and in our communities by means of the paper, leaflet, sticker and poster. However there is another method of keeping you message on the street, and it doesn't cost a printer, ink cartridges and paper. I am of course talking about graffiti. It seems, like the paper on the street, to have gone out of fashion. Done in the right places it can last much longer than the paper, though it doesn't find its way into people's houses, but it can make its way into their minds. For some of us, a wee walk down memory lane.

Anarchists & Underdogs 

Images of Social & Political Graffiti in the UK.

       Long before the days of social media and online petitions graffiti has been used as an expressive display against the corporate and political powers that be. When I say graffiti, I don’t mean the multi-coloured three dimensional ‘tagging’ and artwork that you see aside canal towpaths and scrapyards, I’m talking about early graffiti, hand written messages and slogans written by anarchists and underdogs across the county.
      I picked up a couple of books on this subject ‘The writing on the wall’ by Roger Perry and ‘Graffiti’ by Richard Freeman. These books show a number of early images of graffiti dating from the 1960s through to the 1970s, a long time before the Bronx and subway inspired art reached our shores. Amongst a number of nonsensical written messages and slogans, there are pictures of graffiti which addresses racism, capitalism, greed and inequality, all daubed across the walls and bridges of our inner cities and suburbs.
These images got me intrigued and made me want to dig deeper and seek out more images of this nature. A high number of the images I came across were taken during the turbulent Thatcher years, where tensions were high and the disenfranchised expressed their anger and feelings towards the Tory government and authorities of the era.
There is something about the images below, a bold statement that makes you think deeper about the message being put across and what became of the people who wrote them.
Gallery
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‘Black is Beautiful’ Moss Side, Manchester, 1969. Photo © Michael Ward
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‘No Nazis in Bradford’, 1970s. Photo © Don McCullin
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‘Eat The Rich’ Notting Hill, 1977. Photo © Roger Perry
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Dalston, 1978. Photo © Alan Denney.
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‘I Fought The Law’ Ladbroke Grove, London, 1977. Photo © Roger Perry
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Notting Hill Gate, 1974. Photo © Roger Perry
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‘Dada Is Everywhere’ Malden Road, Kentish Town, 1974. Photo © Roger Perry
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‘Strike A Body Blow to Capitalism’ Kings Cross, London, late 1970s. Photo © Roger Perry
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‘All Submission To Authority Humiliates All Exercise Of Authority Perverts’ Clapton, North East London. Photo © Roger Perry
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‘Words Do Not Mean Anything Today’ Chalk Farm, Camden, 1975. Photo © Roger Perry.
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Elgin Avenue, London, 1970s Photo © Roger Perry.
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‘I Can’t Breathe’ London 1960s Photo © Richard Freeman
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‘Anarchy Lives’ East London, 1976. Photo © Judy Greenway.
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‘We Want Decent Housing’ Hackney, 1970s. Photo © Unknown.
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‘4,000,000 Unemployed, Thatcher Is Guilty’ Brixton, 1984. Photo © Mark McNestry
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‘Don’t Cry For Me Maggie Thatcher’ Isle Of Dogs, 1980s. Photo © Unknown.
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‘Wake Up Maggie’ Merseyside, 1980s. Photo © Unknown.
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Thatcher Is An Android, 1980s. Photo © Unknown.
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‘Scargill Rules’ Taken during the 1984-1985 Miner Strike, Easington Colliery, 1984. Photo © Unknown.
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‘Why Vote? Anarchy’ Toxteth, 1960s. Photo © Unknown.
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‘High Poll Tax’ Bury, 1991.
‘Free Kuwait with Tiger Tokens’ Hulme, early 90s. Photo © Richard Davis.
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‘Snort Cocaine For Kicks/Fight Racist Scum’ Hulme, 1985. Photo © Unknown
‘Pigs get the f*ck outta here’ Hulme 1980s Photo © Richard Davis.
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‘Ouch!! I’ve Been Hit By The Poll Tax’ Hackney, 1990. Photo © David Corio
It’s Grim Up North, M1 Motorway, circa early 1990s. Photo via KLF online.
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