Onthe second floor bathroom of the Mitchell Memorial Library on campus, on the toilet paper dispenser of the second stall in the men’s room, there used to be a lengthy written discussion about the Toy Story franchise.
One person thought “Toy Story 2” was disappointing; someone else said “Toy Story 3” made up for it. Another person was dissatisfied with the entire series and yet another person wanted to know the ethnicity of the main character in “Up.”
The last note was from someone who wanted to know why everyone was discussing Pixar movies in a bathroom stall.
Other things that decorated the place were racist comments, various fraternity symbols followed by comments either praising or condemning whoever was represented, something about LSU I didn’t quite understand,and assorted crude poetry.
I was reminded very strongly of the Internet.
The stall has since been painted over, and all of this is gone.
I’m not sure if it’s still there anymore, but in the men’s room adjacent to the State Fountain Bakery, there used to be a rather interesting religious debate taking place on the wall. In an attempt to gain converts while they are at their most vulnerable, someone wrote, “Jesus loves you,” at eye level across from the toilet.
This was followed up by a similar sentiment from Buddha which was rebutted by another Christian, and then the whole thing sort of fell apart after the previous writers’ masculinity was called into question.
I was once again reminded very strongly of the Internet.
The internationally infamous graffiti artist Banksy said graffiti is the people’s way of taking back public spaces from corporations who use it to advertise.
After all, a corporation may be allowed to place a giant picture of a hamburger on a city street, but if a random person decided to draw one he might be arrested.
Banksy might be a strange and deviant personality, but he does have some credibility.
His artwork is recognized by professional artists all over the world and has even been displayed in a Miami art gallery.
On a small scale, if stuck in a bathroom stall for whatever reason, would you rather read the graffiti I described above or an advertisement for Taco Bell?
On a larger scale, this means that graffiti can be considered less an act of vandalism and more of a legitimate art form than previously thought.
In retrospect, this seems somewhat irresponsible on the part of our rulers since they seem so willing to let advertisements for blue jeans dominate our skylines but so reluctant to let works of art enter the public landscape for fear that they might offend people.
For those still unconvinced that graffiti is an art form, I would ask you to ignore my previous examples of bathroom stalls and to do a little research of your own. Looking up more information on Banksy is a good place for anyone to start. I would also recommend the websites unurth.com and streetsy.com.
James Powderly is probably my current favorite graffiti artist since he manages to incorporate technology into his displays and has a way of writing graffiti with holograms.
While I don’t endorse criminal activity, I do endorse people learning more about art and culture and rethinking what art and culture actually are.
Personally, I find more value in the scrawl on the side of a men’s room than I do driving past a billboard on the side of the road. Maybe that says something about our culture. Or maybe that just says something about me.
Zack Bouis is a junior majoring in psychology. He can be contacted at
[email protected].