The Digital Street - Karifurava, Judy Rhum, Tom Gerrard, Nini Sum, Morris Vogel, Indie184

4 May - 29 August 2020

Taby Gallery (online)

Listen to the interview about The Digital Street on BBC HERE

Read more about The Digital Street

In early 2020, at the height of global lockdowns due to the COVID-19 pandemic, I was approached by Taby, a new digital gallery, to curate an exhibition for them. I proposed an exhibition titled ‘The Digital Street’ which would take the works of eight graffiti-influenced practitioners working in a field called post muralism. 10% of the proceeds from this exhibition were donated to Street Art for Mankind (SAM), a non-profit organisation that prioritises public art and social change.

Graffiti and street art is an ever-expanding and increasingly popular genre of artmaking that has found an increased role and dedicated significance during the coronavirus pandemic. It is a practice that has evolved entirely within the public realm, and often comes with the capacity to challenge, critique and contort both public places and public knowledge. At a time where museums, galleries and institutions have closed their doors, street artists have remained steadfast in their craft, and many artists from other genres have migrated to the medium to be able to continue to share work publicly.

Muralism today has seeped into many services throughout the art world; significant institutions regularly exhibit street art and graffiti shows, with artists such Banksy and KAWS now household names who routinely break sales records at auction houses, and the aesthetic of graffiti is embedded in our society and spans advertising through to technical inclusions in fine artist’s practices, a process often referred to as Post-Graffiti.

Digital artmaking is no exception – several highly stylized comics, illustrators, designers and artists have appropriated the specific aesthetic qualities of graffiti and mark making, as well as the pursuit’s capacity to critique and challenge norms. The Digital Street seeks to examine these qualities through the works of artists globally. It presents an array of artmaking which utilizes digital reproduction in a graffiti-influenced style, and demonstrates a range of artists who openly critique the world around them within this particular practice – ultimately showcasing the beauty and necessity for graffiti in today’s climate.