Concept

The photographic narrative conveys the temporal changes of decorative facades throughout Wellington.  Captured over time in variable conditions, this narrative represents the temporal existence of images from graffiti to murals to advertising.

It begins with graffiti in its simplest form as tagging.  This type of image interrupts the façade as it is used as a canvas, degrading the overall structural aesthetic.  It then moves to uncontrolled and non-commissioned images that are more expressive and visually attractive, yet still frowned upon in the wider community. This type of decorative facade is often found in abandoned areas and dead spaces where they are left to degrade.

In more public spaces a battle begins between the artist and the building owner, as graffiti is constantly covered up and redone in a cyclic nature.  This reinforces the degenerate quality of graffiti.  The battle is temporarily won when a façade is refreshed as a clean slate, untainted by any unwanted imagery.  Commissioned murals take the place of graffiti that are more controlled and clean that are put there to serve an aesthetic purpose.  The images supplement the facades rather than detract from them and are typically more permanent.

Following on from this, advertising posters and billboards appear ordered, grid-like and bold on their facades, often in public spaces where they attract the most attention. They are characterised by bright colours and simple compositions that are computer generated and mass-produced.  The media is made to resist degradation by undergoing regular changes in order to align with the ephemeral and demanding nature of the commercial world (changing products, events etc.).  The extreme of this is the standalone billboard that dominates it’s setting and often becomes a façade in itself.  It is on a larger scale and all consuming making it immediately visible. Again, this type of façade is ever-changing to continuously obtain a professional purity that represents the product in its image.

Overall, there is a contrast between the impure and the pure - the unaccepted, the accepted and the obligatory.  This is represented by the progression of decorative facades, from graffiti to commercial advertising that embodies issues of quality and social value and how this manipulates the temporal environment.