semiBad

Paint it grey

The results of Banksy's visit to a post-hurricane New Orleans have been all over the web for months now — although if you haven't seen them they're well worth a look.

This one in particular is a favourite of mine, and reminded me of a story from my teenage years. Just down the road from the house where I grew up, there's an aqueduct which takes the Grand Union canal over a main road. The consequence of this was that there was a lot of eminently paintable concrete down there, which for the most part stayed surprisingly clean. At one point, however, someone threw up an absolutely monumental piece of work — maybe fifteen or twenty metres across, on the concrete bank supporting the bridge. I never found out the details, but it was clearly a tribute to a loved one who had recently passed away. A couple of days later, the council came through — rather than cleaning it off (or leaving it as it was) they spent a day painting over it in dark grey paint, leaving an obvious and obnoxious stain which lasted the best part of a decade.

I'm pretty sure there's a metaphor there somewhere.