I recently visited Turkey to undertake some research around Istanbul’s street art.
Istanbul is a vibrant city with deep traditional and contemporary culture including an energetic night life. The city is a visual delight, so much to see from the vocal shopkeepers to the food culture, the smell of Turkish coffee and the street animals (so many cats) that are well fed and seem well cared for – something that is rare from what I have witnessed in my travels abroad.
I was captivated by the graffiti written all over the streets, juxtaposed against old buildings within the city.
Studying street art, in its many forms, has meant my eyes are now accustomed to looking for some form of communication that invites me to become embedded into the urban landscape. An escape from the everyday, this disruption of thought – particularly when experiencing a new city where everywhere you look you see different and new things. I still see the art that jumps out at me from the street – this visual megaphone of information.
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Alix Beattie: Street Art Researcher 