Browse Exhibits (3 total)

The Sweet Shop

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The Sweet Shop, located at 701 W Jefferson St in Tallahassee, FL, lies across the street from FSU's campus. Over the years, its visitors have left their marks on the inside of its walls, revealing their love, pain, and struggles.

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If Stalls Could Talk

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This exhibit brings together the different forms of graffiti displayed across bathroom stalls all over town bars. Graffiti is often compared to vandalism as it is usually illegal and involves unauthorized marking on public spaces. But graffiti isn't always offensive, and it doesn't always have to be an antisocial behavior. Graffiti can also be understood as an expressive art form that is used to share different thoughts and opinions. Throughout this exhibit, we may recognize how graffiti can be controversial and purposeful.

As I came across these artifacts, I began to question the motives behind writing on bathroom stalls and what makes bathroom graffiti so popular. Is it the thrill of breaking a taboo in a private space knowing it may never catch up to you? Some may argue that the best inspiration in life comes from sitting on a toilet, as it could be the only place where aspiring artists will find an audience. However, these artists fail to consider that they are creating an unwanted eyesore for others as their graffiti wreaks havoc on another's business. Writing on bathroom stalls is like a war between right or wrong. Is the defacing of these walls decoration and expression, or is it as simple as delinquency?

Public bathrooms are weird places, especially in college towns, so you have to be a particular type of person to have the insatiable desire to find a canvas in these spaces. For some, this art form may just be a way to rebel against authorities and establishments. But graffiti can also be as innocent as creating a demonstration that represents love amongst friends or a group of people. As humans, it is natural to want to express yourself and communicate with others. If you frequently visit the same stalls, you can recognize how your expression and communication efforts have been responded to or received. Writing on bathroom walls is never done for critical acclaim or a financial reward; it may genuinely be the purest form of art that encourages discussion. 

My exhibit focuses on graffiti that expresses controversial statements, comedy, inspiration, and love. 

While it may stink, doesn't it make you think or smile sometimes?

If yes, then mission accomplished.

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Graffiti: Writing Nicely With Others

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This exhibit is composed of pictures of graffiti on multiple walls and doors of an abandoned, unfinished building in Tallahassee, Florida. The exhibit has been designed to take a closer look at how composition happens in a shared, public space by many different composers.

A highly material practice, this graffiti shows that space (and what I think of as "prime real estate") on the walls is very important to the artists. Most of the graffiti takes up the lower portions of the walls: the first people see, the easiest to see at eye level, the most impressive because of the perspective of people who may come in and realize that the letters are as tall as they are. It would be very difficult to get up higher without a ladder, which would be difficult to pull off without being seen. This building is in the backyard of four apartments, and very visible to them.

When I first thought of this idea, a few months ago now, I had visited the space without taking photos. Upon returning to the building with the purpose of taking pictures for this project, I found that the walls were very, very different. Stencils that I had seen on these walls, and on stop signs, electric boxes, and other walls around Tallahasse, as well, were now completely covered and nowhere to be found. Art that seemed to be amateur (sketches of elephants, stencils of the faces of Marilyn Monroe, Zach Efron, and other celebrities, poems written in freehand with no design, just normal handwriting) were the pieces that were covered by new, extensive pieces by more experienced artists.

Instead of remixing other work, artists paint over other work, taking space for themselves, differentiating their work from all others with distinct backgrounds and borders as well as distinct style choices. The outside of one door is tagged with work that could be found inside the building, almost like a name on a mailbox, signifying ownership, like a flag in the soil.

This world of composition is constantly changing; I would not be surprised to return to this building and find it even more covered, even more transformed.

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