By Lisa Catt

Photography by John Goodridge

Paste-ups, scribbles, tags, stickers, and stencils: they line alleyways, collage brick walls, tower on CBD rooftops, hide in warehouses. They brand car parks, peer from unsuspecting nooks, and plaster broken windows.
They are political. Territorial. Expressive. Feminine. Masculine. Colourful. Monochromatic. Blaring. Subtle. Romantic, even.
They are part of the world that is street art: a complex and expansive network in which Adelaide stakes a notable claim. The three-day urban art festival, Street Dreams, provided ample evidence. Curated by local art collective Format, from March 4th to 7th, when Adelaide was in festival heat, Street Dreams saw the collective’s Peel Street headquarters become a hub for those keen to celebrate and embrace our city’s artistic edge. (The absence of council members was duly noted.)
Headlining the festival was Chris Tamm; an artist who once clambered the streets of Adelaide with aerosol can in hand. Nowadays, Tamm is the curator of Sydney’s May’s Lane Gallery. Perhaps it does sound like he sold out – compromising his urban roots for the flair and fabulousness of the conventional art world. But May’s Lane is not your standard art institution. Its exhibitions do not consist of typical wall hangings with token sculptures scattered through out. It is an outdoor gallery space designed exclusively for displaying street art – the first of its kind in Australia.
Tamm always likes coming home. He is proud of what is on offer here: “I like Adelaide culture. It is experimental – much more than Sydney… I think people in Adelaide like art and are well educated.” There is much more to street art than most would know, or care to know – it is certainly more than just a few punk-arse kids sticking it to social conformities. Our streets have great potential, but it is up to the council to let street art flourish and fill our streets’ empty voids.
A street art-led urban renewal in Adelaide is a topic that Tamm is passionate about – especially now that it is casting off the negative connotations of graffiti and breaking its association with vandalism. He feels council action is critical so that “no more empty, crappy lanes ways get fenced off to make way for minimal white cubes,” sacrificing the emergence of these creative playgrounds. There are promising signs: just recently Norwood artist Matt Stuckey received a $5,000 public arts grant from the City Council to brighten up ticket machines along Rundle and Frome Streets. “Hopefully it will help change the perception of street art, from kids with Textas to professional artists and designers who are actually interested in creating a more engaging city,” Stuckey told the City Messenger.
Furthermore, Renew Adelaide – a non-profit, artist run initiative – is proving a strong force in developing a constructive and supportive relationship between street artists, the community and the law. The biggest hurdle is still the law. As Adelaide City councillor Stephen Yarwood has stated, “once this code of regulatory conditions is cracked, a suite of wins is to be had. Artists get edgy venues to exhibit, building owners get cleaned up property… The community gets safer streets and more places to play, and local businesses can begin to exploit an emerging night-time economy.” This comes as good news to all involved writers, graphic designers and fashion students using street art as a medium. It is another outlet for their artistic tendencies, allowing their professional careers to develop as they experiment and articulate techniques.
In the words of Chris Tamm, “the world-wide wall scrawl is a medium in its own right, like print or television.” What is most striking about street art is the paradox it presents. Street art encourages expressive freedom, artistic licence, and a subversion of institutional art. A great rivalry exists between the inner-circle of artists – or writers, as Tamm refers to himself – who constantly try to outdo or outreach one another. There are rules. But, as Tamm explains, they are always changing: “people are constantly making new rules”. Despite this defining feature – it is one that keeps street art in perpetual motion – respect remains paramount.

The golden rule? Do not cover work better than your own.

Images transcend borders, but then you already knew that. They have to power to connect one city to another, across the other side of the world. Street art is no exception. What started in the depths of the New York subway has spread to Berlin, London, Sao Paulo, Stavanger, and Melbourne. Adelaide is a small cog in this constantly churning machine, but it is turning.
The Street Dreams festival and the existence of local organisations such as Renew Adelaide epitomises the creditability and legitimacy that street art has gained in Adelaide and abroad. Traditional conventions of art are being made archaic as the lines are literally being redrawn. Even if this defunct outlook is adopted – one that narrows what art means – the legitimacy of street art still stands.
Just like an errant brushstroke on canvas does not instantly acquire art status, the same is true for street art. Abusive delinquent graffiti is still just that. But, undeniably, street art has been revived – there is a tangible momentum surrounding the medium and the people involved.
Let’s just hope Adelaide can keep up.