Final 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.

Image One: It begins with a blank and freshly painted façade.  Renewed as an appealing canvas, this untainted facade becomes a desirable surface for graffiti artists to display their work.

Image Two: This image is a snapshot of graffiti in its simplest form: the personal expression of tagging.  This type of decoration interrupts the façade as it is used as a canvas, degrading the overall structural aesthetic. Such graffiti is often found in abandoned areas and dead spaces where they are left to degrade.

Image Three: 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. 

Both image two and three are taken at a close distance, as graffiti is often hidden and small in scale.  This required more detail within the shot to clearly portray this part of the narrative.   

Image Four: When the battle is unable to be won, more controlled, but still expressive, murals are commissioned to decorate a façade in a bid to repel unwanted graffiti.

Image Five: In this instance, the commissioned mural displays a less expressive quality and is more controlled and clean.  It is applied to the façade to serve an aesthetic purpose and convey a religious message.  The image supplements the facade rather than detracts from it and is intended to be more permanent. 

Image Six: 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.). 

Image Seven: 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.