Women on Walls | Engaging street art through the eyes of female artists Alix Maria Beattie Master of Research Thesis Western Sydney University 2017 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS First and foremost, I am truly thankful for the support and guidance of my supervisory panel, Dr Rachel Bentley and Professor Lynette Sheridan-Burns. In particular, my primary supervisor Rachel, who not only guided me through my research but offered an endless amount of support, critical engagement and general brainstorming driven by a love of street art. Lynette’s experience, words of encouragement and sharp red pen provided me with the right advice at the right time. I am also thankful to my artists: Mini Graff, Kaff-eine, Buttons, Vexta and Baby Guerrilla. They were generous in their time, thoughts, art, and passion. This work is only possible because of them. To all my lecturers throughout my Master of Research journey – particular Dr Jack Tsonis and Dr Alex Norman – who were tireless in their efforts, helping me become the writer and researcher I am today. Likewise, I want to thank Dominique Spice for creating such a supportive environment for all of us MRes students. To my fellow MRes students - Toshi and in particular Lucie and Beth (aka the awesome clams) – you are all, without doubt the best part of completing this research. Awesome clams, you provided continuous support and good humour –I truly thank you both. Finally, to my friends and family who have been relentless in their support via texts and calls – you know who you are and I am eternally grateful. A special mention and thank you to my wonderful sister Clasina and great friend Tanya, who did a final read through of my thesis. To my husband James – thank you for everything – your love and support through this thesis has meant the world to me. Image on Title Page - Alice Pasquini – Madrid, Spain – Photograph by Author, 2017 STATEMENT OF AUTHENTICATION The work presented in this thesis is, to the best of my knowledge and belief, original except as acknowledge in the text. I hereby declare that I have not submitted this material, either in full or in part, for a degree at this or at any other institution. …………………………….. Alix Maria Beattie CONTENTS TABLE OF FIGURES I ABSTRACT II CHAPTER 1 | INTRODUCTION 1 RESEARCH QUESTIONS 2 BACKGROUND TO THE STUDY 3 GRAFFITI 4 STREET ART CLASSIFICATION 8 SUBCULTURE 13 STREET ART DEFINITION 14 FRAMEWORKS 16 CULTURAL AND SOCIAL DIMENSION 16 INTERNET & SOCIAL MEDIA 18 GENDER 19 CHAPTER SUMMARY 20 CHAPTER 2 | METHODOLOGY 21 MIXED METHOD APPROACH 22 ARTISTS 24 MINI GRAFF 25 BUTTONS (CHERIE LYNCH) 26 BABY GUERRILLA 27 KAFF-EINE 28 VEXTA 30 INTERVIEWING 31 IN-DEPTH INTERVIEWING 32 INTERVIEW QUESTIONS 33 ARTS-BASED RESEARCH 34 DATA ANALYSIS 35 PRACTICE-LED RESEARCH 38 PRACTICE LED RESEARCH | @BEATSTREETART 39 CHAPTER 3 | CULTURAL AND SOCIAL FRAMEWORK 41 CONVERSATIONS 42 WHO IS THE AUDIENCE? 42 COMMUNICATION AND THE AUDIENCE 43 TRANSLATIONS 43 DIALOGUES AND INTERPRETATIONS 44 CREATION OF MEANING 47 LAWS & REGULATIONS 49 RE-SHAPING OF NEIGHBOURHOODS AND COMMUNITIES 51 COMMUNITIES CREATED 52 CASE STUDY | MINI GRAFF 54 CHAPTER SUMMARY 55 CHAPTER 4 | INTERNET & SOCIAL MEDIA 56 SOCIAL MEDIA 57 DOCUMENTATION OF ARTWORKS 58 SPACE 60 VIRTUAL SPACE 60 URBAN SPACE AS THE VIRTUAL SPACE 62 NETWORKS 62 NETWORKED INDIVIDUALISM 64 NETWORKED SYSTEMS 65 NETWORKS CREATED 67 CONNECTIONS 68 CASE STUDY | BUTTONS & MAID 69 CHAPTER SUMMARY 71 CHAPTER 5 | GENDER ANALYSIS 72 GENDER ROLES AND STEREOTYPING 73 THE FEMINIST LENS 74 RISE OF FEMALE ARTISTS 76 ‘I HAVE TO GO ABOVE AND BEYOND’ 79 AUTONOMOUS ARTIST 80 SAFETY 82 DOCUMENTATION 83 CHAPTER SUMMARY 84 CHAPTER 6 | KEY FINDINGS 85 ADVERTISING 85 AUDIENCE INTERACTION 87 NETWORKS 89 SAFETY: THE CITY IS ‘OURS’ 91 GENDER 91 CHAPTER 7 | CONCLUSION 93 IDENTIFY 93 INTERACT 94 INTERPRET 94 FINAL SUMMARY 95 REFERENCES 96 APPENDICES 100 APPENDIX A – INTERVIEW QUESTIONS 100 TABLE OF FIGURES FIGURE 1 - ‘TAGS’ - ARTISTS UNKNOWN – NEWTOWN, SYDNEY 5 FIGURE 2 - ‘THROWIES’ - MAID & RETRO – NEWTOWN, SYDNEY 6 FIGURE 3 - ‘MASTERPIECES’ OR ‘PIECES’ - ATOME, TEAZER & SPICE – PARRAMATTA, SYDNEY 6 FIGURE 4 - ‘MURAL’ - KAFF-EINE - BONDI JUNCTION, SYDNEY 9 FIGURE 5 - ‘STENCIL’ - E.L.K – BRUNSWICK, MELBOURNE 10 FIGURE 6 - ‘SCULPTURE’ - WILL COLES – NEWTOWN, SYDNEY 11 FIGURE 7 - ‘PASTE-UP’ – BE-FREE - REDFERN, SYDNEY 11 FIGURE 8 - MINI GRAFF – SURRY HILLS, SYDNEY 25 FIGURE 9 - MINI GRAFF – SURRY HILLS, SYDNEY 25 FIGURE 10 - BUTTONS – CBD, WOLLONGONG 26 FIGURE 11- BUTTONS, CHAIGO & CHOQ – FITZROY, MELBOURNE 26 FIGURE 12 - BABY GUERRILLA - FOOTSCRAY, MELBOURNE 27 FIGURE 13 - BABY GUERRILLA - CBD, MELBOURNE 27 FIGURE 14 - KAFF-EINE - CBD, MELBOURNE 28 FIGURE 15 - KAFF-EINE - BRUNSWICK, MELBOURNE 29 FIGURE 16 - KAFF-EINE - FITZROY, MELBOURNE 29 FIGURE 17 - VEXTA & ELLE - CBD, MELBOURNE 30 FIGURE 18 - VEXTA - CBD, MELBOURNE 30 FIGURE 19 - @BEATSTREETART INSTAGRAM ACCOUNT 40 FIGURE 20 - MINI GRAFF - SURRY HILLS, SYDNEY 48 FIGURE 21 - MINI GRAFF – UNCLE MIKE 55 FIGURE 22 - BUTTONS AND MAID - NEWTOWN SYDNEY 70 FIGURE 23 - KAFF-EINE – BENALLA, VIC 88 i ABSTRACT Street art has become increasingly common in urban landscapes around the world. As an outgrowth of the modern graffiti movement, and fuelled today by social media, street art has moved from subversive origins to become a highly prized art form, including the commissioning of new works, and gallery representation. However, like the subculture from which it stems, street art remains a masculine domain, despite increasing numbers of female artists being recognised in the field. This research focuses on five artists who identified as female and contribute to street art practices. It specifically investigates how these female artists identify, interact and interpret the subculture of street art. As such, the current literature is expanded by exploring the cultural and social frameworks of street art, the impact of the internet and social media, the role of gender and bringing the contribution of women into focus. ii Chapter 1 | INTRODUCTION “I like the anonymity and freedom this form of art poses” Baby Guerrilla, 2017 Over the last decade, working within a small, independent art gallery, I have witnessed a number of changes in the Australian art industry including the rise of street art in popularity. My personal experience has highlighted how this art form has come to challenge the viewer. The audience faced a new art form that broke free from the “white cubes” of gallery spaces (Austin, 2010). Artworks were location specific, utilising the physical walls of the street as the canvas replacement. Due to the historical nature of the origins of street art in the graffiti movement, with its gang affiliations and illegal aspects of marking the city undercover at night, a masculine culture has come to dominate this subculture (Macdonald, 2001). As I will discuss in this research, this masculine culture has transferred to the street art subculture, despite the context of production being different for graffiti artists and street artists. There are relatively few female street artists in comparison to the male artists, arguably because the subculture’s historical strong links to the graffiti culture are still remnant (Macdonald, 2016). This exegesis explores the subculture from a female artist perspective, through a mixed method approach including qualitative interviews and practice–led research. Street art continues to reveal and establish new research areas due to the multiple frameworks of the subculture. In contemporary Australian contexts, the following dimensions have emerged: legal aspects, which incorporate the ownership of the streets with the concept of the ‘public city’ (Young, 2014); social and cultural frameworks including the networking and collaborations between artists (MacDowall, 2015); the influence of technology, such as the internet (Drew, 2012); street art’s ability to ‘activate space’ and aid in the de-criminalisation of graffiti (McAuliffe, 2012, p. 190); the use of planning instead of policy against the ‘war on graffiti’ (Iveson, 1 2010); and photo-documentary practices document these normally ephemeral artworks (Cubrilo, Harvey & Stamer, 2009; Vassallo, 2009). And, as noted, one area that is often ignored is the work of female artists and the gendered dimension of the practice. Research Questions In this research, I focus on five artists who identified as female and contributed to street art practice between January 2016 and August 2017. Through investigating how these female artists identify, interact and interpret the subculture of street art, I will examine the following research questions: 1. Why do female artists select this medium – and how do they identify with the genre? 2. Does gender play a role in the artists’ participation in the street art subculture and does this affect their self-identification? 3. Through the street art medium, what dialogues are created between the female artist and the audience? These research questions are applied and discussed through specifically analysing three identified frameworks: • the subculture of Australian street art; • the influence of the Internet and social media on the practice of street art, and • a gender analysis of the subculture. By engaging with these frameworks in the context of current research, this research is a critical analysis of female street artists and their involvement in this traditionally masculine subculture. It provides further insight into the subculture as a primary analysis of why female artists select this medium as an art form, allowing for greater visibility of female artists in the subculture. Due to the limitations in both scope and time, five female artists were selected to participate. The five artists selected are either Australian-born or currently live in 2 Australia and have conducted artistic practices during 2016 -2017. Each artist has a social media account and the degree to which this is used as a communication tool with their audience varies. The participating artists were: Kaff-eine, Mini Graff, Buttons (Cherie Lynch), Baby Guerrilla and Vexta.