Graffiti, Disjointed

Today there is a garish piece of plywood propped up on some 2x4's. I am sure the plywood was not garish when it was placed there, but the wall stands for some kind of representation of free speech and there are cans of spray paint collected around the bottom of the display. As I walk past someone is writing "#Starvat" in white, the only color that will show up against the back drop of words written on top of one another. I assume he means to advertise Starvation Gulch, an event held in Fairbanks at the end of September, where large fires burn before the dark sets in. We lose daylight at an exponential rate. Now it's minutes, soon it will be by half an hour, until we hit the solstice, when the sun will barely lift off the horizon.

The plywood references local and pop culture. Beneath the layers there was the batman logo in white, a choice I found inexplicable. In black, toward the bottom, were the words Bad Wolf. Now it's hard to make a single message out. Mutation arises, "This Li(fe)" is cut off diagonally by a sequence of three hearts. In black, surrounded by a border that did not protect it's message, are words about expectations. I can't help but feel that this project had so much more potential. Now, when I look at it, I wonder at what free speech means when it comes to making messages stand out. If anyone can come along and spray their words on top of others (marking their territory, almost) then how are we to be heard? Repetition? Copy Rights? This board is proof that it doesn't matter. The only thing now would be for it to rain, though I know it wouldn't have any effect on the dry paint. Part of me wishes that it could though. It would speak a better message, one about how ephemeral we are, how fleeting.

The other day I saw a message in marker on some kind of power box:
"Remember
Life is Short."

Beneath it was written, in a different hand:
"but Living
is the longest thing
you'll ever do"

Both of these things are true and at odds with one another.