Big
@sofles flexing hard in Brisbane City Hall.
Last year,
@brisbane.lordmayor was inspired by a piece of history in city hall. During the renovations of city hall, completed in 2013, workers uncovered a wall of signatures. These were signatures that were written, without permission, by World War II soldiers and people who worked in the building in the 40s. This piece of historic vandalism has now had books written about it and makes up part of the free tour of City Hall given by
@museumofbrisbane . This got
@brisbane.lordmayor thinking about the age-old question of “what is graffiti?”. What is the difference between a tag and a soldier leaving his signature? Does age change it? Is the intent any different? Art is meant to make us think. And as
@brisbanecitycouncil moves into an era of proudly championing its homegrown street artists as story tellers of the city what a great opportunity to ask this question. So
@sofles was commissioned to paint a mural that celebrates the history of Brisbane City Hall and the people who built it. Look closely and you will see signatures of current chefs, security guards, kitchen staff and cleaners.
This piece has a powerful place in my heart. It was an honour to curate and project manage this piece. I felt quite emotional when it was completed. My work with
@brisbanecitycouncil started when I told
@brisbane.lordmayor that Brisbane was a terrible place to be a street artist. That Brisbane produced some of the world’s best street artists. But we had some of the strictest anti-graffiti laws. We lived in a city that felt more focused on painting surfaces grey and beige than it cared for supporting our local talent. I would have never dreamed of a mural in City Hall. Let alone a
@sofles piece with graffiti letters at its core. This mural will stand as a powerful recognition of the new era of Brisbane’s support for street art. It will be proof that Brisbane really does recognise its street artists as story tellers of our city.
.
👨‍🎨
@sofles
📸
@mediastache
.
#brisbanecityhall #brisbanestreetart #streetart #brisbane
