LOVE in Brighton

When I was in Brighton a few weeks back with boo we stumbled across a surreal scene in the town centre. In a small square two security guards kept watch over 4 massive letters spelling out “love”.

It was obvious something was taking place but noone in the small crowd seemed to know exactly what. Suddenly a lone little girl walked up to the one of the letters and started drawing on it. As a small group started pressing chalk and paintbrushes into the hands of children in the crowd, it became clear that this is what was intended.

The letters were soon swarmed by children, parents and passers-by wanting to make their mark using images or text. As the low-lying canvas within arms’ reach of most of the artists was quickly used up, some started climbing up the letters or each other to gain access to the areas left untouched.

I stupidly forgot to ask those giving out art supplies for any information and searching the Internet has been pretty fruitless - try searching for Brighton, love and graffiti and see how many results are returned. My best guess is that this was some kind of community art project as that was certainly the mood. The letters themselves felt uneven with several layers of paint so it might be a regular event. Interestingly, it was very civilised and people quickly fell into the “respect” mindset of the graffiti community, avoiding interfering with each others work.

The work may not have been as good technically as that at events like the Cans Festival but they both shared the excitement of the public altering their environment to their own desires. I just wish that there were more initiatives like this or a change to graffiti laws so that urban life would be much more colourful.

More photos on flickr
[flickr]tag:Brighton+LOVE@xerode(square)[/flickr]