Canvey Graffiti

by Disphotic

I’m hardly unique in drawing considerable inspiration from Tim Hetherington. His work is fantastically multifaceted, but one element I particularly like is the way he often focused in on quite peripheral details to the main story he was exploring, for example photographing graffiti. I’ve been working on a project about Canvey island and the relationship between the island and the sea. The island’s existence is maintained by 24 km of seawall which keep the Thames estuary at bay and one element of it I’ve been recording is the graffiti people have daubed along large stretches of it. Unfortunately I can’t see it fitting into my project in its current form, so instead I’ll share some here.

Some of what is written on the Canvey sea wall is done in chalk and will soon wash away, other bits have been daubed in paint and will remain for decades. Some bits can be dated because they reference long defunct events or movements. The Argentinian cruiser The Belgrano sunk thirty years ago during the Falklands war, or mentions of sixties proto-teen movements like The Mods and The Rockers. Some bits suggest a cry of frustration, teenage angst or racist anger. I don’t want to suggest the graffiti on the sea wall represents average Canveyites, actually I think its probably the opposite. It seems more like a noticeboard for the marginalised and transient to make statements that lots of people will see.