Library graffiti: The art form sweeping across campus

Graffiti around the Sydney Jones and Harold Cohen libraries has really taken off recently.

No longer do you just find Games of Thrones spoilers and anti-JMU messages carved into the doors and walls of our great buildings. Today a wide range of genres, fonts and forms are on display if you look hard enough.

Beginning with the more profound art on display…

The fantasy burdened by reality

This scribe appears to be running low on sanity as well as A4. Who is this genius recluse?

No borders, no nations

Library vandalism has become a popular form of political activism. We’re calling it vanda-liberalism. Brand would be so proud.

Well said

Clegg better be reading this somewhere.

And now for the not-so-political…

Ah, to be young and in love. This piece takes us back to our primary school years. Year six was absolutely class.

Not all the play-ground graffiti is loving, though…

Eat shit you smelly bummed poo face

Cheeky, playful, but slightly sinister.

Some of the more interesting wall-art on display is interactive, with an argument breaking out in the Sydney Jones male toilets after the British public were accused of being too loud.

The initial accusation triggered a response of “because we have so many interesting things to say”, before an observer opted to intervene and evaluate the scribblings on the toilet wall, rating it as “outstanding”.

Artwork was in short supply, with cartoon drawings becoming a common feature in the Sydney Jones Grove Wing, despite the problems budding artists might face using a wall as a canvas

Our walls aren’t just covered in words, but in images, too.

Students are resourceful people and this is evident in their refusal to be limited to paper.

Here we see what appears to be the profile of a woman. There is a longing in her eyes and the whole thing feels really nostalgic.

And here we have a pastoral scene of sorts, with a suspiciously-large bird dominating the foreground. There is a metaphor here for sure…

A member of staff at the Sydney Jones library said: “We have a strict policy on graffiti and it is removed imminently, as soon as it is detected by a member of staff or a student.

“Graffiti is not condoned within the university, but I admit, some of it is funny.”

Gotta love the librarians.