10 years ago the
Institute Of Contemporary Arts was besieged by connoisseurs of graffiti photography
when a small group of dedicated amateur graffiti photographers (there was no
other type) curated by Delete and comprising himself, Buddz, Lee 102,
Howaboutno, Joeppo and myself (under the pseudonym Nolionsinengland) created an
exhibition of graffiti photography. It
wasn’t really credible to review the exhibition at the time but 10 years on,
possibly less encumbered by modesty, it is nice to look back on fond memories
and to reminisce with the London Walls photo gang.
“Credibility
thieves, vicarious thrill seekers, they [6
photographers] follow the graffiti into grime darkened urban corners and
locations of un-certain legality; aged limbs but ready cameras scratch deep
below the surface of a culture created by a disparate community of egotistical
but talented dare-devils, London’s graffiti writers.” (London Walls Zine, 2011)
The first photo
cull session was held in the Masque on Old Street, each of us had turned up
incredible photos of graffiti by TYPE (Rest In Paint) and after a shitload of
horsetrading, the trio that made the cut are fitting reminders of TYPE’s powerful
lettering.
“London walls was an amazing opportunity to
exhibit some work, and put faces to many names” – Lee 102
Exhibitions of
graff photography just about never happened so the opening night was rammed, the
queue went down the Mall around the block, thanks perhaps to the uncompromising
venue security for whom this lairy crowd wasn’t the usual ICA opening night
set. At one point Robbo yelled through
the door “FAAACKIN sort it out Dave”, I pointed out to him that my wife was in
the queue a way behind him and I couldn’t get her in either, “You’re in the
shit mate” he astutely observed.
“The security wouldn't let #TeamRobbo in as it
was a full-house at the
ICA, I had to go around asking a few people to
leave politely... Haha,
not sure that type of exhibition has been
bettered since.” – Joeppo
With the space
heaving, a wonderful mingling of cultures took place. Graff writers from all over town and from all
crews mingled, bragged and applauded eachother. Robbo met Stik and this seemingly
unlikely of pairings hit it off immensely.
“It
felt like everyone in the London graff scene was there. A real pleasure to chat
with Fenza and Shye, two of my favourite London writers. And Robbo, of course!
– Delete, 2021
The positive
reception show received from the graff community came as a surprise. Graffiti writers take wonderful photographs
which are now widely seen thanks to Instagram but in those days it was more
limited to an audience of fans on Flickr or the few websites such as Hurt You
Bad that followed the scene. Their
photos tend to convey the mastery of the can and the energy of the moment
whereas the collection in this show took a broader, artier and more contextual
view of the culture.
“This
was the first graffiti related “thing” to happen at the ICA, which is an
amazing location. It felt like actually being an artist for the
night.” – HowAboutNo
When you
combine a large graff audience with free beer tagging of surfaces is inevitable,
management were loudly un-impressed with the post party state of the
premises.
The opening of
the show was accompanied by the launch of a zine “London Walls”, a compendium
of more of the group’s photography which for those who were there is now
probably the only tangible relic of that event.
“the
ICA said it was the busiest opening night that anyone could ever remember,
after about 8pm they had to do a one-in-one-out and the queue stretched right
up The Mall.” - Delete
You probably thought quite a while back "It would be much more interesting to see the photographs than read this babble". Unfortunately there is no facility for showing slideshows on this blog without developing Russian hacker proficiency in html coding. For a full slide show pop over HERE to what is basically the same blog post but with a slideshow
“All the writers were chuffed about it and
thanked us for doing it, which was a relief because there was a bit of a worry
that they would think we were using their work for our own glorification” –
Delete