Street Art as Satire

Unknown. "All Those Shapes." All Those Shapes. Unknown, n.d. Web. 25 Feb. 2015.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/1/13/Pinocchio_2006_Album.png

    I found this picture using the simplest method that I could of: I went on Google images and typed in, “satirical street art”, and boom images started popping up left and right. Amazing right? I know. Out of all the images that popped up, this one stood out to me the most. I laughed at first because it reminds of that Pinocchio commercial: “Did you know that Pinocchio was a bad motivational speaker?” Now let me be honest, I have no idea what this picture is about, or what it is relating to; but I can obviously tell that it is satirical.

       Call me an idiot, but I don’t even know who the guy in the picture is. I like his suit though, it fits him nicely: I own a couple of those myself.  Now if I had to guess, I’d say that the guy in the picture is some type of leader; but not just a leader, he’s a leader that lies a lot. Looks like I’m getting somewhere here. He’s probably Hitler’s younger brother or something of that nature.

       The cool thing about satirical street art, or satire in general, is that different people break down the meaning in their own way. For example, my interpretation of this might be totally different from someone else’s. To me, the picture portrays a lying leader; but someone else could be like, “Kervain bro you’re a savage, that guy in the suit is obviously a WWE wrestler.” And a third person could jump into the conversation and say, “You’re both freaking ridiculous, the little guy in the picture is obviously an alien porn star, don’t you see how long his nose is?” I guess the point I’m trying to make here is that we all have our different views on satire.

Street Art in Cultural Context

Unknown. Untitled. www.globalgiving.org. Unknown.


Unknown. Untitled. Port-au-prince, Haiti. Pinterest.com.Unknown.

 

     I did not have to do any online research on the street art above. This is because all the research I need is a phone call away. I could not really pinpoint or find any link to the street arts because there aren't many Haitians artists who have official websites. Most of them just paint the drawings and no names are left behind as to who the creator was.

   These murals definitely represent a cultural background. As soon as your eyes land on them you can tell that they are form the Haitian culture. Also the word Haiti is written on one of them.   These murals serve a great cause to the Haitian community in Port Au Prince, especially after the big earthquake that took place over there a couple of years ago. They serve as a reminder that Haiti itself, not just Port Au Prince is a very steadfast and unrelenting nation. No matter what you throw at them they will somehow, someway, find a way to overcome the trouble and hardships. For example if you look at the first mural, the creole words “Haiti pap peri” are written at the top of it, which translates to, “ Haiti will not perish.”

     My experience finding these murals was pretty interesting. At first I did not want to do research on a Haitian artist because I am Haitian and I figured I’d explore another culture. But I felt the need to do research on it because sometimes you just have to reconnect with you own culture. Sometimes you get out of tune with your culture even though you are around it every day. Looking at these murals reminded me of the years that I spent growing up in Haiti. It reminded me of all the pain and hardships my family had to go through to give me the opportunity to be here today.  These murals help remind me of my heritage and what it means to be Haitian.