Ursula Frederick

Signs of the times: Archaeological approaches to historical and contemporary graffiti

The papers in this themed section on historical and contemporary graffiti derive in part from a two-day workshop, That was Then, This is Now: Contemporary Archaeology in Australia, that we (Clarke and Frederick) organised at the University of Sydney in February 2012. The Editors of Australian Archaeology invited us to submit a set of papers from the workshop to showcase some of the Australian research in the field of contemporary archaeology. We agreed that a section on contemporary and historical graffiti would make an interesting and timely contribution to the growing international literature on this topic. The papers by Crisp et al., Frederick, and Ralph and Smith in this themed section were all presented at the workshop, while those by Casella, Fyfe and Brady, Agutter and Lewis were invited to provide further examples of the range and scope of approaches to this topic.

Shake well midden: An archaeology of contemporary graffiti production in Perth, Western Australia

Abstract Following on from the inroads archaeologists have made into the study of graffiti, this project set out to examine graffiti production through the lens of its associated material culture. A graffiti midden comprising the detritus of mark-making paraphernalia and other contemporary residues was recorded. The study reveals that aerosol painting was the dominant technique employed in the production of graffiti. One component of the assemblage—the aerosol can—was selected as a focus for detailed analysis. The results show distinctive patterns in the archaeological remains suggestive of particular behaviours on the part of graffiti writers, including the selection of speciality aerosols and particular discard practices. The findings of this preliminary investigation indicate that an understanding of graffiti as an artefact-generating activity complements and broadens existing archaeological treatments of graffiti as artefact. This approach has the potential to reveal new insights into a wider context of activities surrounding graffiti production and the creation of graffiti writing places and communities.

‘No complaints’: counter-narratives of immigration and detention in graffiti at North Head Immigration Detention Centre, Australia 1973–76

ABSTRACT Immigration has played a particularly significant role in shaping settler-colonial societies, including Australia. Successive governments have taken instrumental roles in constructing narratives of Australia’s immigration history. Contrary to the images we see today – of capsizing boats and desperate people seeking refuge – the picture of post-Second World War immigration was all sunshine and smiles, hope and opportunity. Throughout the post-war decades the vaunted Australian sense of fairness was tested by those who entered the country without valid entry permits, for example stowaways and ship’s deserters or visitors, including students who had overstayed their visas. In this paper, we consider an archaeological assemblage of 327 graffiti made by immigration detainees while they were awaiting deportation from the North Head Immigration Detention Centre in Sydney, New South Wales. These graffiti provide a counter-narrative to the rosy image and official record of late-twentieth-century immigration to Australia.

Media and materiality: extending the boundaries of object research

Articles included in this volume focus on the social role of “things” to examine the relationships between material and media artefacts, the construction of social identities, and the production and use of culture. As a collection, the articles reiterate a shift in contemporary object-based research which sees the study of things as an expanded discourse in which the thing itself is neither tethered to its material properties or a sole narrative. Faced with the challenge of contemplating the object as a virtual moving target, contributors have produced a collection of articles that extend “the object” beyond any singular or delimited site of investigation. In many cases the “artefact” explored is both media and material, and where this is the case, contributors argue that expressions of cultural production can be effectively analysed in relation to other empirical cultural dynamics as well as social and historical structures. Each contributor employs a case-study approach that raises “questions of precedent and futurity, of canons of contextualization” in order to challenge disciplinary norms and boundaries. The resulting volume seeks, in the final instance, to make a contribution to the ongoing processes of formation and reflection that characterise interdisciplinary culture studies.

Battlefield or gallery?: A comparative analysis of contemporary mark-making practices in Sydney, Australia

Abstract In this paper we present an analysis of the differences and similarities in the spatial distribution of graffiti in two Sydney suburbs: Newtown and Miranda. The research examines the extent to which factors of surveillance, location and legislation affect the range, production and spatial distribution of graffiti. Through the application of conventional archaeological field methods to the contemporary landscape this study has shown how an archaeological approach can test, and thereby validate or refute, general assumptions and proposals generated through other disciplinary frameworks. Results show that the amount of graffiti across the landscape does not follow the simple distinction whereby high visibility locations have low amounts of graffiti, while secluded locations have high amounts. Rather, within each landscape, the intricate interactions of human intention, graffiti policy and the characteristics of the built environment differentially shape graffiti distribution. Furthermore, this study shows that the influence of local community approaches to graffiti management on the typology and distribution of graffiti cannot be underestimated.