In this video, the self-proclaimed “Etymology nerd” talks about how bathroom graffiti is an entirely unique communication style because it can only happen in a bathroom. There’s the desire to mark your existence, which dates back to cavemen, and the idea of private expression where people can create things for others to see in a public place while maintaining anonymity. This leads to a phenomenon called “The death of the author,” where each new piece of art is attributed to the room itself. Lastly, the space for the expression is inherently gendered, allowing communication to a direct audience.
All of this is to say bathroom art is kinda fucking cool and should be looked into as a legitimate art form. Every space has bathrooms, and by virtue, every space has bathroom artists. Below are a few I found around UIC.
A few people decided to mark their existence
Bathroom graffiti could open up an entirely new world of artists. Think Banksy, but for bathrooms (I’m sure there’s a pun there). Something else to note is that much of the bathroom graffiti I remember around UIC and most other places gets painted over, so we also have a limited shelf life on how long these works exist before they are erased and replaced with new ones.
To conclude, I want to talk about an experience I had with bathroom graffiti on a road trip in 2019. I sat down on this toilet which faced the door and when on the toilet seat I could see above the door was written “Iron Man Dies” “Cap gets old” etc.… someone had written spoilers to Avengers Endgame above the door in the most visible space in the bathroom. That is to say, there’s also room for trolling in this medium; this experience makes me think of anonymous message boards and how people will say whatever they want when there’s anonymity, like a message board.
Who knows, maybe in a year or two, there will be entire bathroom art exhibitions with no artists attributed to the works.
Comentarios