Cape Town

Cape Town, a photo by Barrybar on Flickr.

About five days ago (20 March 2011), I accompanied two friends on a brief tour of some graffiti sites during which I took quick shots because I know they had planned to paint as well. Kyle cautioned me about going down an alley.

Way out of the city, we got to a sort of playground with graffiti on it walls. Kyle went to a house but they declined to have him use their wall. A second resident gave him the OK. We returned to the car and lugged about 30 paint cans, white paint, some fruit and one mask. I helped to prepare the wall by painting about 20 square feet. Then, for the next three hours I photographed their progress.

When Kyle finished his, I noticed him writing: Yo: Patric Barry Barr

It was funny and amazing that, after relentlessly photographing graffiti since 2001, here I was being accorded some recognition.

During the work, which took three hours, two policemen approached us and asked about the work. The head cop said they had received at least 20 calls from residents complaining about vandals defacing the wall. (At last, the vandal side of me has been recognized!) My main man told him he had permission from the owner and the cop and himself took a walk. The woman concurred.

When the cops were returning, I asked them what they thought of the work. They approved and stopped to decifer the letters in the art, which is not always an easy task.

SCHOOLGIRLS

Speaking of decifering the letters, yesterday (25 March 2011), I was on my way, walking through Company's Garden*, to see a play, Broken Glass, by the late playwright and late husband of the late Marilyn Monroe, Arthur Miller. At the museum, I went to re-check the four pieces of graffiti that I had observed and photographed about nine days ago. I was re-checking because when I returned two days after the four pieces went up, I saw that one had already been replaced, and two, which I thought were finished when I left, were actually now completely finished and three schoolgirls, in their green uniforms and about 13-14 I would guess, were trying to figure out the letters in one.

I helped them figure it out and told them it was done by a woman who signs as LARD. We discussed the other that was replaced and I showed them what the original looked like.

We probably talked for about 45 minutes and the conversation ranged widely, even including religion. They were all very pleasant and one, who was one year in school ahead of her two friends, was particularly precocious. I never took pictures because am usually wary of doing so with young girls. The precocious one says she is into art and took my Flickr address when I told her I was into graffiti in a big way.

I said my goodbyes and left to find The Fugard Theater. I stopped to enqure as I walked along and with half an hour to go, decided to take a cab, otherwise I could have arrived late and sweaty.

At the intermission, I was leaving to stretch my legs, when a woman in the back row called to me and reminded me that we had met the night before when I went to see an African play called Burnt. As I have written elsewhere, during our conversation the night before, she suddenly introduced me to three young women. I had thought she did so because a special person, a man, had arrived and she thought better of us being together. But she told me yesterday that she did so because she had some work to do. I totally understand.

*I haven't researched nor enquired, but I am of the opinion that "Company" is short for East India Company, Great Britain's colonial arm that ruled much of the world. Do the research.

Edit: I also need to do the research because I believe there were two "Companys" -- The Dutch and the British East India Company.