How technology has transformed street art
Case Study published in, Sociologic: Analysing everyday life and culture, 2021
PERSONAL VOICE My name is Alix Beattie and I am a PhD candidate at Western Sydney University. My research area focuses on female street artists and how this media transforms and activates urban environments. Part of my research focuses on the way technology and social media has created online communities for street artists as well as audiences who love (and sometimes hate) street art. These communities have created conversations that have not been previously possible.
Street art uses the urban environment as a canvas and is used as a way of discussing and projecting ideas of the artist into the public realm. Artists communicate messages and ideas through imagery.
Prior to social media, street art was limited to the physical world. It is described as an ephemeral or ‘temporary’ artform because it is painted over, constantly changing and sometimes vandalised. With the introduction of the internet and specifically social media this once ephemeral artwork is now permanently documented and preserved in the digital world (Brown, 2015). By creating this digital existence, conversations with audiences are now taking place online and continuing long after the artwork has gone. Through ‘likes’, sharing and comments, the artworks are now embedded into the digital world.
Artists creating these works now have the ability to speak to the audience and contextualise their message through online communities. Prior to such online communities, the artist could rarely speak to audiences.
An example of this is Sydney-based street artist E.L.K who was authorised to create a mural at Bondi Beach (see Figure 19.1). The work acknowledged the number of asylum seekers that have committed suicide over the past 10 years while being held as part of Australia’s mandatory detention regime. The mural received Australian wide media attention and conversations, shares and likes reverberated through the internet and social media: many praising the work and others criticising his message. While the mural was destroyed some days later by members of the public, it is now embedded in the virtual world and the conversations created about Australia’s treatment of refugees continue.
By using social media to document and provide context to the audience, artists are able to connect with other artists (MacDowall & De Souza, 2018). These networks created an opportunity for collaboration as well a sense of community for artists. This has changed the once solidarity art practice into a collective space for artists to network and collaborate.
This can be seen through the use of the hashtag #bushfirebrandalism—an artist collective who are using their artworks to discuss the issues around climate change in Australia. The Australian bushfires of 2019–20 summer were news around the world. Likewise, the work of the artists have created conversations about climate change and the need to continue all forms of activism to force global leaders to respond.