Canada 2020
About Alix
Alix Beattie is a Doctoral Candidate (Doctorate of Creative Arts or DCA) at Western Sydney University. Before beginning her DCA journey, she worked in the art industry at a contemporary Sydney art gallery.
Her previous studies include a Master of Research, with a focus on female street artists, and an undergraduate in Art History and Film Studies.
Her research focus is street art as she became fascinated by the impact that this medium can have on a community - reshaping the urban environment and turning even the most mundane streets or laneways into open air galleries. In this way, street art breaks away from the traditional galleries and meets you where you live, walk and interact with those around you.
INDIA 2019
Alix’s Philosophy
Street Art: Disrupting the everyday
“I see art as a disruption: it disrupts our thoughts and takes us away from our everyday lives by challenging us to see something different and think in a different way.
While I love working and visiting traditional galleries, I believe street art encompasses these disruptions of thought more than art that is viewed in a formal gallery space. This is because in a gallery space, our experience is mediated, planned, curated - and we are provided with information on a particular artist and the exhibition. We are ‘handed’ the information through a catalogue, the plaques that sit next to the artwork and insights from people who work in the space or know the artists. We enter a gallery ‘expecting’ an experience.
Street art comes to us and can surprise us - shock us out of our everyday practice of walking to work, strolling to the shops or simply stretching our legs. The imagery can appear out of nowhere!
More so, when viewing artworks on the street, there is no information, no guidelines on how to interpret the work: rather, we as the viewers construct our thoughts and interpretations. This is unmediated and can be un-curated.
Through my research into this area, I want people to re-think their views when they see street art. Take a step back and think about how this medium can not only change the urban space but also the relaying of messages and thoughts by the artists. And for those who are interested, this project aims to provide a link between the viewer and the artist.”