Grey.
There’s something like ten million people here. You can feel it too.
This is a bustling, tense, ancient, energetic place.
It’s intense, but in lots of ways London is pretty grim. It’s cold, windy and crowded. There’s poverty. And it’s brutal because to be homeless here can be a death sentence.
It snowed today. Just quietly. Not a lot of snow, but enough to remind me that this is a tough town to be out on the street.
(Makes me extra grateful to my lovely couch-surfing hosts!)
Black.
The dominant color scheme here is grey, black, brown. People live in grey flats, surrounded by grey streets and brown roofs. They drive black cars and wear black clothes under grey skies.
Most places I go in London there is no graffiti. I don’t think it’s just because of the weather. Lots of walls are freshly painted over. Apparently the city is putting a lot of effort into erasing street art.
This is a city for the rich. If they want art they will buy it in a gallery.
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Red.
When I do see street art in London, it’s exciting, almost shocking.
So much of the city is like a surreal homage to history. London is a study in conservatism.
And then walking along some random lane, behind a tube station, London’s conformist palette is abruptly interrupted.
The painted lanes of London are like opened veins where the real spirit of the city gushes out.
It’s nice to see that there are still some gaps in the institutional, commercial environment.
White.
Whether it’s with music, painting, dance, or whatever, I think it’s so important for all of us to defy the domination of commerce, and take our creativity out on the streets.
Busk.
Graffiti.
Protest.
Occupy.
Don’t let the powerful forget who really owns our cities, OK?
Big big thanks to the awesome artists featured in this post. You made my cold wet day colourful.
