the streets A
S t r e e t
P h o t o g r a p h y
M a g a z i n e
issue four
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TA B L E O F C O N T E N T S 4
Editor’s Letter
PERSPECTIVES (Photographer Series) 12 24
John Hayes
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James Harper
Avi Taranto
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Jonathan Higbee
INTERSECTIONS (Conversations with strangers) 60
Collaborating with Strangers
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Collect on Sunday
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Shoreditch Street Art
Editor and Creative Director: Meredith M Howard Creative and Digital Assistant: Eva Howard Special thanks to Greg Howard and Elise Howard Front cover photo: Jonathan Higbee Back cover photo: Avi Taranto Contributors: John Hayes, Avi Taranto, James Harper, Jonathan Higbee, Meredith M Howard Contact THE STREETS: info@thestreetsmag.com www.thestreetsmag.com Follow us on Instagram @thestreetsmagazine All work is copyrighted to the photographer, artist, or author. No part of this magazine may be used without permission of THE STREETS. 3
E D I T O R ' S
L E T T E R
I recently went on a walk in downtown Atlanta with 50 other street photographers. The leader took us up eight flights of stairs to the roof of a parking deck and said, “Have at it,” gesturing to the city around us. I felt a little out of my element, because I don’t normally shoot cityscapes. I took a few pictures of the Ferris wheel and the buildings and then wandered around to see if I could find anything else that looked interesting. The manager of the parking deck soon appeared and told us we couldn't take pictures there. So, we headed back down the eight flights of stairs and out onto the street. As we split up, I realized this situation was much better for my style of photography, which focuses on people.
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Editor's Letter
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Editor's Letter After an hour, we gathered to talk about editing our photos. I peeked at the pictures other people were loading onto their laptops – cool views of the city, picturesque views of the Ferris wheel, amazing look-ups.
In my head, I compared my photos to theirs. I hardly had any of those types of pictures. I felt like I had failed. Then, I stopped myself – “Don't compare yourself to them. What can you learn from this?” I thought about what I liked about their photos – the symmetry, the leading lines, the composition. I realized we weren’t even using the same focal length. My 85mm lens (intended for portraits) was never going to capture architecture the same way as their 24mm lens.
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Editor's Letter We often look at other people and think, “I don’t have as much talent as they do.” But we have no idea how hard they have worked. Maybe if I spent some time working at architectural photos, I would show some "talent" in that area as well.
“People who feel like imposters downplay their success. They assume it was either an accident or an unrepeatable burst of energy...The truth is, every success is the product of a ton of work, some talent, and a little bit of luck. Every success took more work than we'll ever know." - Musicbed Blog So, I have dedicated this issue of The Streets to the whole learning process – gathering information, practicing, failing, adjusting, and trying again. I have asked each contributing photographer to tell us what they learned last year and what they want to learn during 2017. And I have included an article on lessons I have learned recently from collaborating with strangers. I hope you find a photograph or quote in this Issue that inspires you to learn something new this year... or at least, to practice what you already know. - Meredith
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Pictured - Roy Shavers @mrbegreat
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Photograph by Meredith M Howard
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perspectives perspectives perspectives What do you see when you walk down the street?
perspectives perspectives perspectives perspectives
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John Hayes P h o t o g r a p h e r
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John Hayes
How did you get into photography? Through the back door: I was initially interested in video, and did a lot with my parents’ VHS camera, from short improv sketches to scripted amateur films. Video interested me for its seeming ability to crystallize moments in time. From that point of view, it occurred to me that photography was a dramatically condensed way to do the same thing – and with intensified attention to the different things that compose a single image. What do you look for when you take a photograph? I trust my gut feeling and wait until something catches my eye. I don’t try to force a photograph; when I have tried to do that, the resulting photographs were always dull. Once something catches my eye, I pause and try to reflect before taking the photograph. What exactly was it that caught my eye, and how can I convey that to the imaginary viewer of the photograph? Then I consider technical matters like lighting, contrast, depth of field, etc. And then I take the shot.
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"...the mystery of time and the longing for timelessness..."
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John Hayes What are your favorite things in life? The beauty that is in the world – often in spite of the ugliness that humans concoct; the mystery of time and the longing for timelessness; the remarkable power of the imagination and the inner depths of human existence.
"By ordinary standards, the place was utterly nondescript – you would never guess that enduring works of art had been crafted there."
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What is one thing you learned in photography and/or life in 2016? Some academic research took me to Hale County, Alabama, to the exact road (still dirt) where Walker Evans took his poignant, enduring photographs of three white tenant farmer families in 1936. By ordinary standards, the place was utterly nondescript – you would never guess that enduring works of art had been crafted there. Indeed, you wouldn’t even guess that anyone had lived there at all: not a single building that the families lived or worked in is still standing. Yet all this human life, full of pathos and struggle, had been lived there, and thanks to Evans, those hard human lives were documented for posterity. This made me reflect on how intense human pathos is all around us, even in the most nondescript of places –we just don’t see it or make efforts to document it.
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John Hayes
What is one thing you want to learn or improve in photography in 2017? And how do you intend to do that? I want to slow down and take time to craft a good photograph once something has caught my eye. Too often I’m in a hurry, don’t take adequate time to reflect and to think about technical matters, and the results show the impatience.
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Why do you still shoot film? Have you ever considered switching to digital? At one level, it’s like vinyl versus digital – I just like the sound quality of records better, and likewise, I just like the image quality of slide photographs better than digital ones. But I also think the cumbersome nature of slide photography (like vinyl) forces a greater focus. I know I’ve got 36 slides on this roll, that getting the film developed involves mailing it off, that I’d have to then have them digitized if I wanted to edit or alter them, that I have to set up my clunky old slide projector to see them properly, and the like. All of that makes it more of a craft and an event for me, and I enjoy that. John Hayes is an Assistant Professor of History at Augusta University. Look for his new book Hard, Hard Religion: The Other World of the Poor South (UNC Press) in the Fall of 2017. 21
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Photograph by John Hayes
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Avi Taranto P h o t o g r a p h e r
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Avi Taranto How did you get into photography? My father is an architectural photographer and owned a photolab and gallery in New York City when I was growing up. I didn’t develop a passion for the field until later but photography has unquestionably always been present in my life. I started training to become a tour guide in Israel when I was 26 and throughout the tour-guiding course, I found myself every week in one photogenic location after another. I started posting photos of these places on social media and started getting attention for them. After six months of serious iPhone photography, I asked for an SLR from my dad for my birthday and started shooting with a Pentax K-50. I started shooting and editing constantly and it has only grown from there. I now shoot with a Nikon D5500. This series contains photos shot on both cameras.
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Avi Taranto What do you look for when taking a photograph? My eye is particularly drawn to geometry. I like to use photography to enhance the lines I see in nature. I find that having a human element in your photography makes it more relatable, interesting and gives you an idea of scale. I look for ways to present both ordinary and extraordinary places in a format that gives you a strong sense of shapes.
“My eye is particulary drawn to geometry. I like to use photography to enhance the lines I see in nature.�
What are your favorite things in life? I have very eclectic interests. I speak twelve languages and learning them has been one of my favorite things in life. I also went to culinary school in France so I have a special love for food. I love hiking in nature. I love Star Trek (in all of its permutations) and RuPaul’s Drag Race. I love pepperoni pizza.
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What is one thing you learned in photography in 2016? I used to chase patterns and shapes in my photographs but in 2016 I started chasing the light. I have a better mastery of my camera and try to take photographs that requires less post-processing. What is one thing you’d like to improve in 2017? I am not a fearless photographer. I would like to have less hestiation in photographing people’s faces in the public sphere. This would drastically change the overall tone of my photographs.
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Avi Taranto What’s it like being a New Yorker in Tel Aviv? New York and Tel Aviv are similar in many ways – they both represent the primary locus in their respective countries for a culture of non-stop activity and out of the box expression. That being said, the priorities are somewhat different. I find New York to be exceedingly career and status oriented while Tel Aviv has more of a family vibe. The weather is immeasurably better in Tel Aviv than New York. Both cities have incredible food scenes through Tel Aviv doesn’t come close to New York’s shopping. It has been a great privilege in my life to be able to call both cities home and my goal is to be based in both places in the future.
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Follow Avi Taranto on Instagram @respectthetour 35
James Harper P h o t o g r a p h e r
How did you get into photography? For my fourteenth birthday, my grandfather got me a camera. At first I was thinking, “Why he would get me one?” I never really cared about about photography. But after a couple of days, I realized that I really liked taking pictures. What do you look for when you take a photograph? I look for anything interesting. I like to take pictures of multiple things happening in one picture. It makes the photo more interesting because you aren’t looking at just one thing. What are your favorite things in life? My favorite things are buffalo wings, autumn, and shoes.
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James Harper
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James Harper
What is one lesson you learned in photography and/or life in 2016? What I learned in photography is that you need to take a lot of pictures in order to find some good ones. All the ones that didn’t satisfy you, just delete them. Keep the ones you really like.
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James Harper
What is one thing you want to learn or improve in photography in 2017? How do you intend to do that? I want to learn to take more interesting and more impressive photos. I intend to do that by going to other places besides just my neighborhood and also taking some online classes.
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Jonathan Higbee P h o t o g r a p h e r
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Jonathan Higbee
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"I've aimed to make photos that inspire the same kind of wonder and curiosity that my family's aging albums stirred within me as a child."
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Jonathan Higbee How did you get into photography? My family has a deep history with photography. Though nobody in my lineage was a professional photographer (that I know of), at least one person in each generation was obsessed with making pictures. So, I grew up steeped in photographs, many of which were slowly turning yellow and smelled of aging paper – all of them sparking wonder and curiosity. It was clear to my mom and grandparents that I would be the one in my generation who would catch the bug for photography, so they resolutely gave me my own camera before I turned 8 years old. The Polaroid 600 became a part of my body; it traveled with me wherever I went, and I still have many of the first photographs I ever made. They’re blurry but adorable. From the very first time, I felt a thrill of clicking a shutter through today, I’ve aimed to make photos that inspire the same kind of wonder and curiosity that my family’s aging albums stirred within me as a child.
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Jonathan Higbee
What do you look for when you take a photograph? This is the eternal question, the one that’s always so hard to answer. More often than not I’ll almost subconsciously make a photograph while walking the streets without much of a thought of the process, if even at all. It’s more about an indescribable feeling that drives me to take a picture rather than a visual element. There are of course times when I’m working on a project (like my “Consumed” series about consumerism, culture, and mass-advertising) when I walk the streets intent on finding a story that communicates what I want to say on the issue. However – since it’s street and not a controlled studio – I cannot have blinders on and be too inflexible or married to a preconceived idea or wish.
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Jonathan Higbee
“It’s more about an indescribable feeling that drives me to make a picture rather than a visual element.”
Even on a deadline, I have to set out trying my best to be present and open to all of the wonderful possibilities that life affords. If it turns out that I walk away with a great photograph that conveys a narrative I’m working on, then I’ll be happy and satisfied for an afternoon. Soon, it will be time to hit the streets again with as clear a head as possible. 51
What are your favorite things in life? This question is much easier to answer! My husband, our dog, and my family certainly top the list. Aside from photography, I’d say travel is my next favorite way to spend my time. It’s even better when photography and travel mix. Despite my love for travel, I also love New York. Like photography, I’ve been obsessed with NYC since I was a very young kid. I’m also married to New York, my husband often jokes! I think my unyielding infatuation with this city is a big reason I became interested in the street genre.
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Jonathan Higbee What is one thing you learned in photography and/or life in 2016? I finally learned how to handle creative fear blocks and fear of “losing my mojo.” For years, I’d always panic when I lost enthusiasm for making photography. This fear really intensified when I felt the stakes were raised – like after winning the World Street Photography Awards. Man, I’d really get depressed in those inevitable periods when I didn’t feel like shooting. And depression and guilt only compounded the situation! By 2016, I had experienced enough ruts and droughts that it for once sank in that I’d be okay, that I’d emerge from the block soon – and perhaps even stronger than ever. I finally learned to exploit these blocks by using them for non-creative aspects of my business that needed upkeep or maintenance or even for a mental break from it all. Allowing myself to be productive in other ways related to photography during these mojo-less periods seems to shorten the length of the creative blocks, which was a revelation (and has saved a lot of sleepless nights).
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Jonathan Higbee
“I’m finally at a place where I’m consistently achieving the wonder I’ve wanted in my photography since I was eight.”
What is one thing you want to learn or improve in photography during 2017? And how do you intend to do that? I’m set on improving my basic printmaking skills this year. I turned part of my home office into a printing studio in 2016 and studied the fundamentals. I’ve been fortunate enough to have a steady stream of collectors buying prints and they’re very happy with the quality of what I’ve been producing so far. But there are times when I see and feel a print in person that literally drops my jaw. Like the photograph just jumps off the paper. This happens a lot in Camera of the Month and New York Street Collective – both fantastic groups I’m involved in locally. So, this year I’ve resolved to learn how to get the same kind of “wow” factor in my own prints. Aside from advice from members of those two collectives, I’m looking into taking a print-making course or three at the International Center of Photography. I’m finally at a place where I’m consistently achieving the wonder I’ve wanted in my photography since I was eight. Hopefully, achieving this goal in my prints won’t take as many decades.
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Follow Jonathan Higbee on his website at www.jonathanhigbee.com and on Instagram @aliveisthecity and @typicalanomaly
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Photograph by Meredith M Howard
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Intersections
I I I I
Intersections Intersections Intersections What happens when you have a conversation with a stranger?
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Lessons from Collaborating with Strangers by Meredith M Howard
(C lo t h e s w e r e p r o v i d e d b y C o l l e c t o n S u n d a y )
I was shopping one day when I saw Annisah Medinah– her hair, her vibe. “Have you ever considered modeling?” I asked her. “No, “she said with a smile. Her co-worker chimed in – “She totally should model!” 60
I didn't have a specific project in mind when I asked her. I just knew I needed to grab her when I had the chance. A month later, a young woman who was opening a clothing store in Atlanta contacted me about possibly collaborating on a photo shoot "some time". This is a project that could have been pushed off forever down the road. However, I have gotten into the habit lately of setting a date as soon as possible while interest is high. Create a deadline.
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“Passion projects don’t want to be made. They love living inside our heads and they’ll do everything possible to stay there. So, we have to smoke them out with deadlines. Deadlines save us from overthinking and overtweaking. They save us from ourselves really.” - Musicbed Blog
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Lesson Number One:
Create a deadline to propel your idea into action. 63
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Collaborating with Strangers Photo shoots are more interesting with a story. So, I asked Annisah about her interests. Film and fashion were two themes. I came up with a storyline of a young woman who is inspired to make her own movie. I asked Annisah a few questions while we shot – MMH: How did your interest in films start? AM: I went to the Cannes Film Festival this past May. I went because my school [Spellman] received an email and they were recruiting students. I saw “movie festival” and “France” and I’m not a film student but I just went. I loved the experience and now I have a new eye for film. MMH: What was the experience like? AM: It was incredible. They gave us internships with buying companies. A friend of mine interned at Lionsgate. I interned at Voltage Films...It was beautiful to leave work and see celebrities walking up the red carpet. MMH: Did you get to see any of the films that were showing? AM: Yes, if you weren’t working, you would go see a movie. MMH: Which ones were your favorites? AM: Captain Fantastic. The Handmaiden. There’s still a few that I haven’t seen yet because it was so packed and everybody was trying to go see those films – Mr. Nice Guy, The BFG. 65
Hearing about Annisah’s experience at the Cannes Film Festival reminds me of a quote by Scott Belsky, creator of Behance -
“Truth is, your environment matters.” Being prepared and being in the right place at the right time can drop magical opportunities into your lap.
“Where can you put yourself into an environment that gives you maximum exposure to new ideas, problems, and people ?” - Peter Diamandis
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Founder of the X Prize
lesson number two: Put yourself in the place where learning, opportunity, and magic is likely to happen.
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Collaborating with Strangers I was inspired by film-maker Robert Rodriguez to scout the area for interesting shooting locations and to use what props we had available. He says in Rebel Without a Crew –
"Take advantage of your disadvantages, feature the few assets you may have, and work harder than anyone else around you."
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“You’d be surprised what people are willing to give you.” - Musicbed Blog
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To get different scenes for this photo shoot, we used what was available within one block of the clothing store (Collect on Sunday)– a video rental store, an antique store, a seating area for a cupcake shop, a movie theatre marquee. Everyone was happy to let us shoot in their spaces...which reminds me of a quote by movie producer Jens Jacob that I read recently on Musicbed Blog “You’d be surprised what people are willing to give you. Nobody is going to knock on your door and say, ‘Here, I’ve got this. You can use it.’ You have to out there and find it yourself.”
Lesson number three: Ask. You never know what will happen. They might say,
"Yes!"
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To see the short film we made about a girl who was inspired to make her own film
Click here
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Collect on Sunday Interview with Christina Swilley, Owner by Meredith M Howard
MMH: I’m fascinated by people who start businesses, because a lot of people are too scared to act on their ideas. So, I’m wondering – What were your first inclinations that you wanted to start a business?
CS: I got married when I was 20 and had Sophia, my first daughter, when I was
21. I grew up being interested in art and then all of a sudden I was married and living in Fayetteville, North Carolina – which was sort of weird being a stay-athome mom and doing the mom thing. But even when I was married, I was always saying, “We should open a coffee shop. We should open a restaurant.” I always liked the idea of it. I really wanted to be a clothing designer when I was younger, and I just didn’t really have any family support. So, I didn’t think about pursuing it.
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CS: So long story short when I got divorced I was 26, I didn’t have a
degree, I didn’t have a job, and I had a one-year-old and a four-year-old. I was living in Key West and I thought, “This really stinks. What am I good at?” Then I thought, “Well, I like vintage clothes. I never get tired of shopping for vintage clothes. I’ll start a vintage clothing store.” I moved here to Atlanta and the short version is that my car was stolen and with the insurance money, I bought a really expensive camera and some vintage clothes. I thought, “I’m going to start an online store.” I just started asking girls to model for me. I evenutally made a business card and then made a little sign, and then eventually I had my first pop-up at Youngblood.
"I think it's better to go slow. It's better not to pour a bunch of money into stuff. It's better to start small."
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Collect on Sunday CS: I didn’t really have any confidence in myself. I just didn’t feel like I could do it, and felt like everything I did wasn’t good enough. But I just kept doing it and then last year started looking at spaces. I was going back and forth and thinking about it and constantly telling people I was going to [open a store] and thinking, “Can I actually do this?” And then I found this spot. I asked people for advice and one of the things I heard was – “You just find the right space – that’s the most important thing – then you make it happen. Don’t worry about where the money’s going to come from.” So, I found this spot. The rent was affordable, my boyfriend could do the renovations with me, I had enough credit to get a few loans. And I just did it. While I was building my social media and posting online, I felt like I was wasting my time...But now that I've opened, in the first two weeks, all my business has been people from social media. So, I built enough of a reputation for myself in town.
“It’s about adding something to the world and sharing with people. Everything I sell in here is stuff that I would want to buy.” 78
Collect on Sunday MMH: Do you think you have certain personality traits that help you in your business?
CS: I obviously like to talk to people. My business mind is about doing things and sharing things. Obviously I want to make money, but firstly I want to do something that’s beautiful. So, maybe that comes across and hopefully always will. It’s about adding something to the world and sharing with people. Everything I sell in here is stuff that I would want to buy. One thing I’m naturally good at – and I hate to use the word curating because that’s so cheesy - but I like curating. I like putting things together. I don’t know anything about art, but I think I’m pretty good at figuring out what’s the good art, the good pieces. I’m really good at thrift store shopping. I can go into any place and find the four best things in there. I need to be better at business stuff, but I’m working on that. I’m finally keeping track of all my books. I’m not naturally business-minded. I’m fun and beauty minded. I thought about it yesterday – “You can’t teach someone to come up with ideas, but I can teach myself to be good at money.” That’s something you can learn even if it doesn’t come naturally to you.
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Collect on Sunday
MMH: Why did you name the store Collect on Sunday? CS: The original name was Sunday. My dad’s side of the family – they’re all
Southern Pentecostal preachers from Southern Georgia. My grandmother’s Cherokee Native American, but I don’t know anything about it. She kind of got away from it, because it was very taboo at the time to be Cherokee. And I don’t know anything about the European side of me. I don’t know anything about the poor sharecroppers from North Georgia side of me. The only thing I have any touchstone to is the Southern Pentecostalism. And I’m not religious at all, but I like the culture around it.
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Collect on Sunday
“I love the music. I love the clothes. I love that everybody dresses up on Sunday.” And they were also all really good people. My great grandfather in the 1930’s had one of the first truly integrated churches, and it was in South Georgia. There were black people and white people in the same church in South Georgia in the 30’s. It was unheard of, but they just did the right thing. And with that comes both the white and black cultures of the South in church, which both are really interesting. I love the music. I love the clothes. I love that everyone dresses up on Sunday. The church that I went to even in the 80’s and early 90’s – all of these women would wear these cool hats and they played these tambourines. It was very cool. Very inspiring to me. And I like that there was this one day to dress up. I don’t even go to church now. Like I said, I’m not religious, but I like the idea of having this community thing where you go and see everybody. And the music is cool. There are other stores called Sunday, so I changed it to Collect. I was really excited when I came up with the name. I had been thinking about the name for years. I was in the shower one day and I was like – “Collect! Because that’s what you do. You collect.” I don’t buy stuff from H&M and the mall. Everything is a collection. So, Collect on Sunday. I tied them both together. And I like the way it sounds.
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Collect on Sunday MMH: What do your tattoos mean? CS: These initials I just got for the girls - Sophia and Olivia. MMH: And what is the arrow on your arm? CS: I was in New Orleans by myself, and I just got it on a whim. But if I was going to try to find any meaning in it, it’s like moving forward...I got this snake in Mexico City. I got the snake because there are a lot of cool meanings behind snakes in mythology. It’s actually about motherhood and loyalty. And then I have a princess on my foot to remind me to be tough. It’s based on an Alphonse Mucha lithograph. He did all of those turn of the century French posters, so the guy did a take on it. But I like that she has a turban and it’s a profile picture. And there’s something about a woman in profile – this power. I got it when I was married at the end of our marriage. It was sort of like a way for me to remember to be powerful and strong. It took me a long time to kind of come into my own and not be scared.
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Collect on Sunday MMH: What has been the hardest part of getting the physical store open? CS: I signed the lease really quickly. The physical building of everything was
kind of a nightmare because we didn’t hire anybody. So it was just physically very taxing – in here at 3:00 in the morning painting. I couldn’t have done it without my boyfriend, Skip. He built the racks. We tiled. We drywalled. I think we spent $3,000 at Home Depot. And then a little extra for the glass. But we built the wall, had the curtains made, built the dressing room.
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Collect on Sunday MMH: Where do you find most of the clothes that you sell? CS: I’m always going to thrift stores, estate sales. Estate sales are probably,
for me, the most important because they’re not picked over. When I’m traveling, I’ll always go to vintage shops or flea markets. Sometimes Etsy, even though it’s expensive, and Ebay. And a lot of this jewelry is local. There is an artist that makes these ceramics – artist Maddy Burreto. This guy Stewart from Atlanta makes these pins and I think they’re super cool and really well made. I love them. The jewelry is made by a girl Lauren (Melting Sun Apparel). These rings are handmade in London by a guy from Atlanta named Francois Nordmann (SWS of London). These leather bags are by a designer named Sasha Versa. She used to live in Atlanta. She makes these bags by hand. She spends 36 hours sewing the leather. I want to buy one for myself for my birthday. And then my little brother is selling vintage records in here, and I’m selling vintage books.
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Collect on Sunday MMH: What are your future aspirations? Are you content with focusing on this store or do you have other plans?
CS: I have phases. So, phase one is opening this store. I feel like the space will
act as a resume for myself when I want to do other things. Once I get going and get a little momentum, I would really like to design dresses. I always want to have vintage, but I’d like to move more into new clothes and new designers...I really want to get some shoe designers in here and a couple more clothing designers that I like. Then hopefully I'll figure out a way to design simple, affordable dresses. I would like to make a dress and call it the Sunday Dress... I want to open other businesses. I eventually want to move to New York. I don't expect this to be the end of everything. This is sort of like the next step.
“This is like a giant mood board for the next things I want to do.”
Click here to watch the video of Collect on Sunday
Visit Christina at Collect on Sunday at 626 North Highland Avenue Atlanta, Georgia or online at www.sundayshoppe.com
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Shoreditch Street Art by Meredith M Howard
In September 2016, my family and I took a Shoreditch Street Art Tour (northeast of the City of London). The area is rich with history as it was the location of theaters which debuted Shakespeare’s plays during his lifetime. Later, it was home to the textile and furniture industries, which eventually declined making way for poverty and crime. In the last 20 years, the area has been undergoing a transformation led first by artists moving into affordable industrial buildings followed by wealthier companies taking advantage of that artistic vibe. Now that the area is fashionable again, property values are rising and older buildings are being torn down to make way for high rise office complexes. One element that remains thus far is the proliferation of street art.
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We happened to be there while Stik was working on his mural “Past, Present and Future”. Stik was once homeless, but his canvas artwork now hangs in the homes of celebrities like Elton John and Bono. In the past few years, he has made a name for himself by eliciting emotion from stick figures. He told The Guardian that he started painting these figures because “six lines and two dots was the quickest way to draw a human figure without getting caught.” His mural pictured here is explained on his website as follows – "Three figures representing the past, present and future of Shoreditch rise high over the former artists’ district, home now to only a handful of artists. The first figure looks longingly back on Old Street where artists once thrived, the second peers out at the encroaching billboards, uncertain of how long the few remaining artists can afford to stay, the third teeters precariously, to succeed or move on is yet to be seen." As seen in this video, some people feel that new development is positive for Shoreditch, but some feel that it will destroy the soul of the area. 93
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Stik always uses these "stik" figures, so I emailed him to ask if he ever wants to branch out and do something totally different. He wrote back –
"I feel happy with what I have got. There is enough room for expression in the simplified human form. It is as limitless as the real thing." - S
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Stik paints murals in the sky, but Ben Wilson's art resides on the ground. He makes art out of chewing gum on the sidewalk. (And thanks to Dave Stuart, our tour guide, for pointing out these art pieces, because otherwise we would have stepped right over them.) According to this article by The Culture Trip, Ben has been working for a decade and and has created over 10,000 pieces of chewing gum art. He first heats up the gum with a blow torch and then coats it in lacquer before he paints a picture that is relevant to the place where he finds it.
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Early on in his chewing gum “career”, he was arrested by police and brought in for questioning. But after explaining what he was doing, they released him. And now, they support his artistic contributions. He “makes something special out of something that people find disgusting” – as he told the BBC in 2010. (Click here to watch the full interview with the BBC.)
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Another unique type of street art appears all over Shoreditch (and Europe) in the form of mosaics. An unidentified artist installs these tiles under the project he has titled “Space Invaders”. You can see him in action in the film “Exit Through the Gift Shop” discussed on page 105. 98
Shoreditch Street Art An artist that goes by the name ALO started as a street artist and exploded into the art scene through a solo show at the Saatchi Gallery in 2014. He is self-taught and combines inspiration from African art and German expressionism. According to his website, he “paints lost characters in the city corners at the very margins of life�. His paintings appear for free on the streets of London and sell for thousands of dollars in the gallery.
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“Last Days of Shoreditch” (above) and the "R" (next page) were painted by Ben Eine in his trademark colorful circus script. He started out painting graffiti, for which he was arrested many times. In 2010, David Cameron gave Barak Obama one of Eine’s paintings as a gift.
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“I used to encourage everyone I met to make art. I used to think everyone should do it. I don’t really do that so much anymore.” - Banksy in “Exit Through the Gift Shop”
Shoreditch Street Art Banksy is probably one of the more well known London street artists. His art is often anti-establishment in message but whimsical in tone. In 2003, he successfully installed his own artwork in Tate Britain. The sign next to the painting read –
“This new acquisition is a beautiful example of the neo post-idiotic style. Little is known about Banksy whose work is inspired by cannabis resin and daytime television.” The painting was only discovered when the glue loosened and the painting fell to the floor. (Read the full story in The Guardian here.) In 2006, he did the same thing in several New York museums. In this article, the Brooklyn Museum and Museum of Modern Art said they are still holding the artwork and waiting for the artist to retrieve it. Once, he printed a million British pounds with Lady Diana’s photo on them (as well as his own name) and passed them out at a festival. People turned around and spent the money, which caused Banksy to stop handing them out lest he go to jail for forgery. So, he used the remainder of the bills as a paste-up art project. The film “Exit Through the Gift Shop” may be Banksy’s biggest prank. On the surface, it is a street art documentary about Banksy created by Thierry Guetta. However, there is speculation that Banksy orchestrated the entire film to turn Thierry into a million dollar artist.
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This artwork is by Shepard Fairey who designed Barak Obama’s 2008 “Hope” campaign poster. He also appears in the film “Exit Through the Gift Shop”.
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Shoreditch Street Art
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Shoreditch Street Art The mural on the previous page was painted by Dale Grimshaw. It is the most striking mural I’ve ever seen. The red conveys a sense of energy and readiness to fight. But the eyes are not angry. They appear to be assessing the situation. I was curious about the mural and the artist, so I went to Dale’s website. His series of tribal figures is different from all of his work that has come before. So, I emailed him and asked him what he was trying to convey with this mural. Here is his response -
“I had wanted a double figure piece for a while and the size of the village underground wall gave me that opportunity. Although the face colourings are similar to my red and white Papua New Guinea figures, these face markings are based on people from Ethiopia. I really thought the piece ended up with an otherworldly feel which I liked. They look like they had literally arrived from another place – wary and observing the new world around them. I like the contrast of colourful, tribal people surrounded by the western world with all it’s trashy, commercial trimmings. Apart from my energetic, painterly trademark, I always want to give my paintings a strong emotional presence. Otherwise, they just end up soulless and may as well be a pouty Loreal ad.” – Dale Grimshaw
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Bambi painted this mural in response to the Michael Brown shooting in the U.S.
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Art by Dscreet
Shoreditch Street Art According to an interview with Street Art London in 2012, Dscreet (previous page) was inspired by a near death experience at age 17 to get more serious about his street art and to try to make a positive mark on the world. The interviewer asked him –
“What is the importance of street art to London and also generally?”
Dscreet responded -
“It works on so many levels I don’t think many people acknowledge the extent of its importance. It's tempting to play it down and say street art won't change the world and it's true that it generally doesn’t feed the starving masses, but in reality it actually does change the world and peoples' lives on a daily basis, not merely on the surface level. "On a simple level, if it makes a bunch of people smile and even think a little bit about their surroundings then I think that’s a valid contribution to the world.” He ended the interview with good advice for us all –
“Just keep painting and creating, get on with it,
stop being a bedroom philosopher.” Contact Shoreditch Street Art Tours for your own tour of Shoreditch. Follow Meredith M Howard on Instagram @meredith_m_howard
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Get back on the streets... If you want to contribute to The Streets, email us at info@thestreetsmag.com. To see Outtakes and other fun things, visit us at www.thestreetsmag.com.
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“Everyone
you will ever meet knows something you don’t.” - Bill Nye (commencement speech at Rutger’s University)
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Photo by Avi Taranto 116