The first word that comes to mind when someone says graffiti to me is vandalism – but the times they are a-changing.
For years the association for me has always been that graffiti amounted to little more than crude scrawls, ‘menchies’ and profanities on the back of bus shelters or under bridges. A blight, in other words.
I’m undoubtedly not the only one to have felt that way, but it looks like opinions are shifting with graffiti and street art increasingly being viewed as a cultural addition to city landmarks and potentially even offering a boost for tourism, with the likes of Banksy leading the charge into the mainstream consciousness.
The topic came to my attention recently after Nuart Festival – the world’s leading celebration of street art, originating in Norway in 2001 – came to the UK this month for the first time ever and its chosen location was Aberdeen.
It’s quite an honour for Scotland to host such an event. Nevertheless, I gather it was in no way an easy sell with Aberdeen officials liaising with festival organisers for three years before the event finally landed.
This isn’t really surprising considering Aberdeen isn’t noted as an artistic hub with its long-standing reputation as the Granite City. However, it provided the perfect backdrop.
Artists from around the world were invited to attend the week-long festival earlier this month and work their magic on specially chosen buildings, alleyways and locations across the city centre.
The drive behind these events is to regenerate cities, brighten derelict areas and make art accessible to everyone.
Despite there being a mix of international and local artists involved in the project, many of the works included a nod to Scottish culture but with a twist – namely, workmen in kilts, and golfers taking a swing at rubbish.
Nuart Festival provides a street art map for each of the locations it tours with an itinerary of workshops and premieres but the majority of the works locations remain nameless for people to simply happen across.
Events like this provide a platform for artists but also engage the communities in each of their chosen cities. The works are striking but also subtly appear among their surroundings like they always belonged.
There are a number of cities that currently embrace street art, such as Glasgow with its stream of murals that brighten up tired spaces and bare walls across the city – and I hope the Nuart Festival in Aberdeen is a sign of more to come for Scotland.
Art can absolutely attract global audiences to Scotland and be a real boost for the tourism industry. It’s also far more accessible and engaging for the non-traditional art lover who would steer clear of a stuffy art gallery or museum.
I hope local councils and businesses will welcome this trend, and that communities will embrace and maintain the art and not deface the work. Such styles can be suited for commercial purposes by businesses as an alternative to traditional billboard advertising but I would find it far more authentic if street art remained just that – and a celebration of each cities’ individual culture.
I think it’s a case of watch this space and keep an eye on any bare spaces near you, which could soon become the perfect blank canvas for the colour explosion of street art.
In one of the most unusual partnerships I can remember, Lady Gaga and Prince William joined forces last week to encourage people to be more open about their struggles with mental health.
Random maybe, but this unlikely pairing has certainly grabbed the headlines and raised some serious questions on the stigma of mental health – and such efforts can have a significant knock-on effect for Scottish business.
Through Skype link-up, William and Lady Gaga chatted in a new video for Heads Together, a campaign set up by the Royal Foundation of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge and Prince Harry.
Discussing Britain’s ‘stiff upper lip’ culture to mental health, it showed that there is a long way to go before society can break the taboo surrounding the subject.
With the Scottish Government recently unveiling its new strategy on mental health and committing to spend more than £300m to tackle it in the next five years, we can only just grasp the scale of the problem – one that will continue to lower Scottish workforce productivity without meaningful action.
£300 million is a big figure and will go some way to alleviate the problem. However, I don’t think they have gone far enough, especially when it comes to children and young people, the workers of tomorrow.
This is particularly so when you consider that an international report has found that UK teenagers are less happy with their lives than many other nations.
There is clearly a lot of work to be done in breaking down barriers and promoting positive mental health, but with the likes of Prince William and Lady Gaga speaking out, I hope it encourages not only our young people to come forward, but means that they will also be met with understanding and tolerance.
Laugh
I’ve always been careful about grammar and spelling in formal situations. You never know when it might come back to bite you.
A wrongly worded contract can cause serious problems for a businessman like myself, or in this case, severe embarrassment if you are a world-renowned pop star like Ed Sheeran.
I chuckled when at his Glasgow show last week he revealed a rather embarrassing tattoo incident.
Trusting his music video co-star Saoirse Ronan to correctly write down ‘Galway Girl’ for his chosen tattoo artist in her distinctive handwriting, she cheekily scribbled ‘Galway Grill’ instead.
Ed’s been known to write some fantastic lyrics, but it just goes to show that you shouldn’t trust someone else’s penmanship – as he found out to his permanent cost.
Weep
It really saddened me to read that drinks giant Diageo is set to cut more than 100 jobs in Scotland.
In a move that will see the company make 70 redundancies at its Leven plant in Fife and a further 35 at its Shieldhall site near Glasgow, it really is hugely concerning for the affected communities.
With the GMB Union putting the move down to concerns over Brexit, you have to wonder if Diageo is just the beginning.
I constantly champion the food and drinks industry here in Scotland, which is worth billions to the economy.
For this reason alone, the Scottish government should be doing all it can to alleviate uncertainty.
Otherwise, further sectors and communities may find themselves ravaged by similar swingeing cuts.
