Writing on the Wall

I made it to the trendy city of Melbourne, in southern Australia, just in time to catch up with an old friend of mine who was having a gallery opening on that night. I hadn't seen my friend Sudeep in close to ten years. His exhibit was packed and it was good to find him doing so well. His photography was mainly of urban scenes and graffiti from around Melbourne. The gallery was full of artsy types who were talking about the values of graffiti as a public art form. One of Sudeep's shots was of a construction wall that ran along a street where someone had spray-painted "White Australia has a Black History". It was in the colors of the aboriginal flag. I was telling sudeep about how I was interested in studying the history of indigenous people's struggles in Australia, and he suggested I come along with him for a tour of some of the murals painted around Melbourne and its suburbs which he thought might interest me.

We spent the following day criss-crossing the city, photographing some of the art that has been put up to highlight issues and commemorate events in Australia's aboriginal history. Some of it was on the sides of buildings, in school playgrounds or at bus stops. It was interesting for me to see references to the things that I had been reading about displayed so prominently in these public spaces.

I took some pictures of my own and considered what an interesting historical source murals and other public art could be to a social studies classroom. Being created by community members and occupying such communal spaces, they have the potential to reveal the concepts and events a community wishes to remain a part of their shared public consciousness.