Draft FRPS Portfolio

Statement of intent.

We human beings have a lifespan. We grow up, mature and decline. Grey hair, sagging jowls and wrinkly skin mark the human transition to old age.

The things that we create follow a similar cycle. They are created new and shiny, they have a working life and then start to disintegrate, returning to the raw materials from which they were made.

Buildings and structures are the most significant things that we create. They have their own signs of ageing; wear and tear, mould, decay and graffiti.

Graffiti in particular is an indicator of terminal decline. If the first tag is not removed, it acts as a magnet for more elaborate work that declares, this place is no longer maintained, it is in decline, it is unloved, it no longer fulfils its purpose.

This project seeks out buildings and structures as they pass into old age, their transition marked by graffiti. It is analogous to a series of portraits of ageing faces. The bone structure is unaltered but becomes unrecognisable under the blemishes of deterioration. Instead of lines and liver spots, I am seeking the unseen street artist’s work. The colours, throw ups and tags, the anthropogenic lichen that marks decline and fall.

(202 words)