Exploring Drawing

Woodstock:  When graffiti artists make political statements

 

 

 

Graffiti has become a relevant but also a controversial method in negotiating memories of a community.  In Woodstock, Langa, Muizenberg, and other areas, graffiti is used  not only to beautify walls but to make political statements of the times. 

Langa: Graffiti artist displaying the name of community proudly

 

Muizenberg:  a popular mural close to the station on the Main Road.
The mural captures the  Muizenberg vibe.



 

 

Third-year history students  will have to write a ten-page essay using the following title:

‘Space, Place and Doodling’                



 



Woodstock:  Artist's interpretation of  the changes in the community

 

In this essay they need to explore the physical space of a community and how it is changing over time.  Essential to this topic is what is influencing these transformations and how people respond to these spaces.

 

 

Timeline:

Students will be given three weeks to submit.

Submission date:  14 November 2017

 

Guidelines:

1                     Choose one particular community

2                     Keywords/phrases to guide your essay:  gentrification, delineating urban territory, inner-city spaces,  memory and space

Woodstock:  When funky and trendy = gentrification

 

3                     It will be beneficial to find graffiti artists who reside in the area they work – they have an in-depth understanding of the changing minds of its residents.

4                     Rubric will guide your writing.

 

Learning Outcomes:

1         The scope of this research will reveal that information will come from a wide variety of sources. Journals, books, blogs and youtube are just a few that will need to be investigated by the student.

 

2         It will be necessary to interview graffiti artists, residents of the neighbourhood, find credible literature  (books, journal articles, etc)
 

It is best to interview artists who have knowledge of the community.

 

3         Think of different ways of searching for information, trying to cross-pollinate disciplines in the hope of finding fresh, interesting views that can illuminate the topic.

 

Dispositions:

1         Students must realise that scanning one book will not be enough.  They need to throw their intellectual net further afield.

To help them in finding information, the lecturer will provide some titles:

Imagining The City (S. Field, R. Meyer and F Swanson)

Negotiating the Past (S. Nuttal and C. Coetzee)

Rap Music and Street Consciousness (C. Keyes)

Prophets of the Hood (I Perry)

These titles will give them a foothold in the hip-hop movement which graffiti is an element of.

 

2         Be flexible in mind when interviewing graffiti artists and residents.  Remember that as an interviewer, navigating memory and bias is a crucial part that at times will not be dependable.  Therefore, it is essential that they interview residents from different backgrounds and different graffiti artists whose aims and objectives may differ.

Find artist and residents with different views to enhance essay
Location:  Woodstock

3         Students should not be afraid to delve into other disciplines.  The essay allows for this.  Sociology, psychology, linguistics, fine arts are but a few divergent components that can help the student find serendipitous  information that can thread the essay together.

Graffiti is there to make you think. 
Ensure that your essay is thought provoking
Location:  Woodstock