Pichaçao feature by Cloud Commission
Don't forget you can check out Cloud Commission's and the rest of the Ghetto Method Collective's work as part of ¡VAMOS! on Monday 14th July 2008 at The End Bar. More specific info on that event here
Today, much like most days, you will spend time traversing our beautiful city, one lavished with beautiful Norman Foster architecture, heavily funded although often maligned public art sculpture, corporate towers of the local economic heroes, educational institutes transforming your means tested loans into monster new builds.
It’s a common cycle to witness the decline of these utopian visions, built during times of economic growth, their optimistic facades deteriorate when the belts are tightened, only to appear out of fashion by the time we have the resources to re-engage with our utopian fiddling.
The divide between those that define our city and the populous majority, who struggle to find a voice, is huge. Many of the decisions that affect us rarely enter the public consciousness before they are rubber-stamped.
For some of us, silence is not an option. We find ways to communicate our dissent any which way we can. Some will take to the picket line; others become militant and in turn labeled as disturbers of the peace. I, like many others, chose to write on walls.
Writing on walls is our opportunity to engage in the dialogue taking place between patrons of our cities, whether it is acknowledged or not. It is a process born of necessity, vented frustrations. We are being squeezed out of every corner of towns and cities to make way for a small niches vision, often driven by economy and greed and not for the social good. It is our way of wrestling a little bit of ownership back.
This divide is never more present than on the streets of Brazil. If we are writing on walls to make our voices heard, then our Brazilian counterparts are hopelessly screaming into the nothingness.
The capital, Brasilia is one of the finest examples of planning out the poor, reflecting the similar practices in Sao Paolo and Rio de Janeiro. With an unrivalled growth in population, more and more of Brazil’s poor are forced out of the vision for these cities into the shadows of the countless housing blocks that exist on the outskirts of society.
In Brazil, education, accommodation and space are such a privilege, that our western working class lifestyles are almost palatial in comparison. This has resulted in an explosion of graffiti in all areas of social deprivation.
With little if no access to the materials or venues we are afforded, it is the multistory buildings that serve as canvas, rollers and watered down paint or tar a substitute for spray paint. Lives are risked scaling these buildings to find a blank space to make themselves known.
Out of these physical and material limitations has come the ‘Pichaçao’ stylistic. In the 1960’s, Pichaçao, pronounced ‘pee-sha-sow’ was developed to write political messages throughout the streets of Såo Paulo. Long, narrow letter styles that could be made with paint and mini rollers adorned the streets throughout the decade, only to see its demise in the 70’s.
This style was all but forgotten until a handful of kids decided to start writing their names using the ‘Pichaçao’ style in the early eighties, coincidently but completely independently of the Graffiti movement in New York. It has since continued to gain momentum throughout Brazil.
Receiving only the occasional nod from artists outside of Brazil, ‘Pichaçao’ remains a regional phenomenon as access to spray paint and outside influences remains scarce in the area. Maybe the Internet will change all that. More and more American and European influences are appearing on the streets of Rio and Såo Paulo, Brazilian artists themselves are getting recognized on a global scale, with big names such as Nina, Nunca and Os Gemeos starting to receive worldwide recognition.
Is it only time before we see the last throws of the ‘Pichaçao’ styles on the streets of Brazil, or will our own impending economic downfall result in an explosion of ‘Pichaçao’ ethos on a global scale?
Either way, the style is, and will always remain a masterpiece of necessity and ingenuity. We could learn a lot from our Brazilian counterparts for both style, daring and love of the game. Could this be the future of street art typography? Here’s hoping.
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