The six images here are all recent examples of graffiti art in Merthyr Tudful, my home town; a form which seems to have proliferated since the infamous Banksy in Taibach, Port Talbot, with its commentary on pollution and innocence.
Not a Banksy in sight of course, but my garage wall is available should your man from Brizzle decide to do a picture of a pijin like Wayne-O Pijin (sadly deceased).
The first one's situated by the walkway over the weir, not far from the College and , assuming the little lad could be holding a gun, its politics could be construed as dubious. Having said that, it certainly stands out and the scruffy urchin is seemingly androgynous!
The second is tiny and just to the left of the iron heart where the Merthyr Rising Festival holds its main events. On this gable-end was once a mural celebrating the festival, which was then graffitied over with 'FE GODWN NI ETO' ( we will rise again), a statement which berated the distinct lack of Welsh or , indeed, blatantly revolutionary material at the Festival. Fascists then responded and added 'NF' in black below this.
More recently was a red flag mural which redressed the balance and placed the Festival very much as a remembrance of 1831; but this was sadly removed.
What the small graffiti here does is to link a heavy metal gesture with the festival, rock with politics, and to keep it in our minds till it begins again in May this year.
The 19th century gent doing a Mary Poppins impression is the infamous engineer Isambard Kingdom Brunel, the man who made the old railway station in Merthyr, now immortalised on the outside wall of Tesco.Strange choice in Pontmorlais, so close to an engine commemorating the achievements of Richard Trevithick.
The Lennon and 'Trainspotting' ones are very different and take their place on the boarded-up windows of the long derelict YMCA building, which promises to be something.....one day, maybe.
And finally, the one on a bus-station window......black and white like the two-tone music of the 1980s. Even though they are Samuel L. Jackson and John Travolta from 'Pulp Fiction', I like to think of them as symbols of solidarity.
I notice the blurry couple behind them waiting for the bus to Troedyrhiw and beyond, keeping their distance though.
Graffiti has always played a role in my writing and the protagonist of my totally unacclaimed adult novel ('The Fugitive Three') Shell is an aspiring graffiti artist. She's only beginning to have visions of what she can do.
My first book in Merthyr dialect was 'Graffiti Narratives' and the long title poem is split into two sections with verbal graffiti as headings. These two sets of graffiti were well-known in the town and were either side of the railway bridge as you leave High Street towards Pentrebach.
On one side was ' UP TO £50,000 GO FISH' and the other ' STRIP HAIR,I, JUNK ROT PLACEBO'.
Our Council years ago were only too happy to rid the place of these messages which fired my imagination so.
They were certainly two of the strangest and most thought-provoking sets of graffiti anywhere , though I don't think CADW were interested in preserving them!
ANONYMOUS BOSCH
When Banksy come t Merthyr
nobuddy bleeved it woz im –
why would ee come yer
when ee’d done P’Talbot las year?
It woz a picture of an ewge pijin
cackin on this grey pointy tower,
a bird with attitude
flown straight from-a bus station.
It woz on-a wall up Swonzee Road
on-a way t Trago,
perfectly picked s people knew –
it caused a right commotion.
Thousands visited, took selfies,
Council done fuckall as always –
it woz on-a News
an front page of-a ‘Merthyr’.
One landowner sayd-a wall woz is,
but-a Council claimed it,
put up a screen an fencin,
CCTV an ev’rythin.
Till this local graffiti artist
sayd ee done it, Anonymous Bosch
ee called isself……
then nobuddy give a toss.
Council withdrew, telly disappeared,
it’s still there jest as clear -
owner o Trago wan’s it covered up,
‘Filthy disgustin muck!’
Not a Banksy in sight of course, but my garage wall is available should your man from Brizzle decide to do a picture of a pijin like Wayne-O Pijin (sadly deceased).
The first one's situated by the walkway over the weir, not far from the College and , assuming the little lad could be holding a gun, its politics could be construed as dubious. Having said that, it certainly stands out and the scruffy urchin is seemingly androgynous!
The second is tiny and just to the left of the iron heart where the Merthyr Rising Festival holds its main events. On this gable-end was once a mural celebrating the festival, which was then graffitied over with 'FE GODWN NI ETO' ( we will rise again), a statement which berated the distinct lack of Welsh or , indeed, blatantly revolutionary material at the Festival. Fascists then responded and added 'NF' in black below this.
More recently was a red flag mural which redressed the balance and placed the Festival very much as a remembrance of 1831; but this was sadly removed.
What the small graffiti here does is to link a heavy metal gesture with the festival, rock with politics, and to keep it in our minds till it begins again in May this year.
The 19th century gent doing a Mary Poppins impression is the infamous engineer Isambard Kingdom Brunel, the man who made the old railway station in Merthyr, now immortalised on the outside wall of Tesco.Strange choice in Pontmorlais, so close to an engine commemorating the achievements of Richard Trevithick.
The Lennon and 'Trainspotting' ones are very different and take their place on the boarded-up windows of the long derelict YMCA building, which promises to be something.....one day, maybe.
And finally, the one on a bus-station window......black and white like the two-tone music of the 1980s. Even though they are Samuel L. Jackson and John Travolta from 'Pulp Fiction', I like to think of them as symbols of solidarity.
I notice the blurry couple behind them waiting for the bus to Troedyrhiw and beyond, keeping their distance though.
Graffiti has always played a role in my writing and the protagonist of my totally unacclaimed adult novel ('The Fugitive Three') Shell is an aspiring graffiti artist. She's only beginning to have visions of what she can do.
My first book in Merthyr dialect was 'Graffiti Narratives' and the long title poem is split into two sections with verbal graffiti as headings. These two sets of graffiti were well-known in the town and were either side of the railway bridge as you leave High Street towards Pentrebach.
On one side was ' UP TO £50,000 GO FISH' and the other ' STRIP HAIR,I, JUNK ROT PLACEBO'.
Our Council years ago were only too happy to rid the place of these messages which fired my imagination so.
They were certainly two of the strangest and most thought-provoking sets of graffiti anywhere , though I don't think CADW were interested in preserving them!
ANONYMOUS BOSCH
When Banksy come t Merthyr
nobuddy bleeved it woz im –
why would ee come yer
when ee’d done P’Talbot las year?
It woz a picture of an ewge pijin
cackin on this grey pointy tower,
a bird with attitude
flown straight from-a bus station.
It woz on-a wall up Swonzee Road
on-a way t Trago,
perfectly picked s people knew –
it caused a right commotion.
Thousands visited, took selfies,
Council done fuckall as always –
it woz on-a News
an front page of-a ‘Merthyr’.
One landowner sayd-a wall woz is,
but-a Council claimed it,
put up a screen an fencin,
CCTV an ev’rythin.
Till this local graffiti artist
sayd ee done it, Anonymous Bosch
ee called isself……
then nobuddy give a toss.
Council withdrew, telly disappeared,
it’s still there jest as clear -
owner o Trago wan’s it covered up,
‘Filthy disgustin muck!’
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