Ghent: Graffiti Street
Ghent is doing the juxtaposition of their perfectly preserved medieval culture with their hipster cutting edge sustainable design-oriented current culture better than any place I’ve ever seen, and they make it look easy. There is a laid-back sense of self to this city, like they’ve seen it, done it, and find reinventing themselves to be the most natural thing in the world. You’ve got to love a place that doesn’t do the “out with the old” yet still does the “in with the new.” It’s like having well placed antiques perfectly placed inside your modern design home.
Can you imagine my delight when I discovered this city has yet another element that speaks to my spirit…street art. A plethora of street art. Completely sanctioned, fully legal, beloved by locals, street art. You would think the government in this well-preserved medieval town would have zero tolerance for spray paint, yet Ghent is actually a major street art destination and even has some local-born street artists that have become quite famous.
The place I started my street art treasure hunt was the now famous Werregarenstraat, also known as Graffiti Street, located in the city center. As you can see, it’s a mix of all types of graffiti and not comparable to the epic street art murals you’ll see in my next blog. This alley is constantly changing and evolving as people come there with their cans of paint and add their personal expression every day. There is a mix of both actual works of art, one of the more well-known artists, Roa, has some of his work here, unavoidably mixed in with crude scribbles and tags. While I was there, a local had led a small tour of people into the alley and supplied them with spray paint cans.
It was first launched during the Gentse Feesten summer festival in 1995, when the city welcomed artists to have a 'graffiti jam' there and fill it with paint. Since then it has become an institution, an open public canvas, artists of all caliber welcome. Every year, the city paints the walls over and invites artists to come work on a fresh canvas. I would imagine it starts off with a more artistic feel, and over the year becomes much more like this…a lot of color and tagging. Well what can you say, one person’s art is another person’s vandalism.
