(Graf)fiti Walk

Posted May 13, 2019 by Katie Carlson

Lucky readers, this week you get to hear about (and see) Panopticon’s Graffiti Walk with Ann Graf from two points of view because Maria and I both attended!  

When I saw the Graffitti Walk advertised in the weekly LISSA email update, I knew I had to make it a priority. I took LIS 415: Information Organization with Profesor Graf (along with Maria), and was fascinated when Ann told us about her thesis. Ann’s research looks at controlled vocabularies (retrieved from the Getty Research Institute’s Art and Architecture Thesaurus) and the description of art (especially graffiti and street art), so she was the ideal person to lead this walk!

Everyone met at Brookline Booksmith (except for me, due to a late start), and meandered down Harvard Ave in search of anything tagged with spray paint. When I eventually met up with the group, we wandered down side alleys and behind businesses in search of street art treasure! I’m surprised (but grateful) that no crotchety manager or chef came out to interrogate us! There were plenty of gems hidden down some labyrinthian paths. I really enjoyed being able to recognize the tagging style of certain artists, as well as see collaborations.

We also encountered a fair amount of more structured artwork, including a great variety of murals. I have quite the penchant for stickers and am fascinated by the way the elements affect art, so this walk really was my cup of tea. It was awesome to be with other art lovers talking about the composition of underappreciated (read: stigmatized) art forms.

I’d only met a few of the people that went on the walk before we started, but by the time we ended up at Lulu’s (10/10, highly recommend), we were clinking our bellinis and sharing tots like old friends. Bonus: Now I have a go-to activity when friends come to visit!

P.S. My grandparents had called me while I was on the walk. I picked up to let them know I’d give them a call later, and let them know what I was doing. Between old ears and poor phone connection, imagine my enjoyment when I returned the call and found out that my grandparents heard I was CREATING graffitti, not observing it.