Mini Brut pse188
Mini Brut - Project Saint-Étienne - Edition No. 188
A documentation of the graffiti of the small French town called Saint-Étienne compiled in the 188th in-house photo magazine at the École Supérieure d'Art et Design de Saint-Étienne.
The graffiti on the cover is interesting as it shows a young girl painting on the wall the words ‘Laisser les mures propres’, which roughly translate to ‘Let the walls be ‘. Such irony.
Graffiti is illegal in many parts of the world because it is considered a product from a vandal, not an artist, no matter how stunning it may be.
When I lived in France, I witnessed a wonderful piece of graffiti being scrubbed out overnight. I was left feeling empty and heartbroken.
So, in an attempt to honor and in a way, immortalize this kind of art, I decided to take up a fun passion project with École Supérieure d’Art et Design de Saint-Étienne. The aim was to publish a new edition of their inhouse photo book called Mini Brut based on Graffiti.
The images are placed so that the colors and geometry balance between the pages on a spread. This way the composition emphasizes the graffiti.
There were ghosts of worn out paint on the walls which itself gave the artwork an antique feel.
Some marks stayed, the ones made by the municipality were all over the town roads and each held a significance.
The hand marked at crossroads signifies stop and look.
