What’s happening in (Cape Town’s neighborhood) Woodstock that makes local hipsters flood the place? The speed at which parts of this area are gentrifying is dazzling. But hipsters also shoot nice images. Cue: shaky cam and hyper-bright colors. – Tom Devriendt
I live in Woodstock and yes, hipsters are all over the place but the people in this video creating the artworks are first and foremost artists, not hipsters.
A few featured in this video are familiar to me and from my personal experience of them I know for one: they are not the type who plough into Woodstock on a Saturday to frequent the ‘open to all but the locals’ Biscuit Mill or the slew of trendy places to eat and drink that smack of self importance simply because they cater to the ‘cool’ and two: that they create art not because they want to be cool or look good but because it is good and they are good at what they do.
Now, don’t get me wrong because Woodstock is being gentrified, but I don’t think street art has anything to do with that, unless of course you make the argument that all this art is feeding into the hipsters’ perception of cool and thus furthering the gentrification process. okay then, that I agree to.
But, about the art – it’s not like these artists aren’t working in other parts of Cape Town where tag lines like: “a working wage for all” doesn’t mean anything to anyone walking by because they’re too rich to care. no, I wouldn’t say that. Their art and their effort is appreciated because no one else is doing it. You saw those open plots of land with gravel and no place to play? Well, kids will play there anyway and the land will stay stony because the council isn’t doing anything about it, howcome they can’t have a brightly painted wall to play next to, stand against, look at, think of as cool so they feel a little like someone has paid attention to where they stay and its potential?
I mean, you heard what the old man said (apologies it’s not verbatim, I’ve already closed the link to the vid):
it’s like a garden. a still life garden that’s alive.
Let it grow.
And about the shaky camera and hyper bright colours – I don’t think that has anything to do with furthering a position on what’s happening in Woodstock. Filmmakers the world over go hand held and ‘hype’ colours for stylistic effect, so what if it looks cool. At least he got the content we heard and that’s far more important.
And yes, i art is based in Woodstock, they are a collective (of what I think was at first only street artists and illustrators) who found a building in Woodstock to work from so of course they started ‘at home’ (so to say) with their work, i.e. graf&murals and I think the association with hipster cool adidas came after. (Especially after 2010 and a certain international sporting event). Artists have to eat too right? And paints cost money many don’t readily have. At least they put their paint up in the right way – with good intentions.
Hey
This hipster thing is foreign to me. Ever since I was a kid I could draw, later I turned that talent to painting with a camera and images. Whats interesting to me is going to places most dont go. Meeting people most dont care about. Woodstock is not one sided and under attack from a brigade of hipsters(still not sure what they are), it has corners that are not seen.
With this film I wanted to show exactly what I saw. Just like what it felt to walk around the space. I met all sorts of people, experienced the place from only the point of view I could. That of actually being there.
At some point Adidas came on board and they supported the costs. We all as Artists were never told to paint a logo in, they simply allowed us to do what was our goal, not theirs, to do what we love in an area we love.
It is my experience of this wonderful country that some are trying to do positive things(through business, art, and community) but most just sit back and serve only themselves.
This film, which I have not graded at all, and please forgive the shaky camera movement as its very difficult to keep dead still and film the real moments, is narrated not by the artists but by those who live there. That was important to me. As an outsider who came in, I saw that there is a chance that we could show that art can do the simplest of things, that of making a place feel loved.
Thanks for sharing the film.
rowan@makhulu
Finally digital evidence as to why I will never live in Woodstock , thanks Tom
I think the term hipster is a lazy generalising label. Also how can you tell that the person behind the lens is a hipster. Did I just get suckered into trolling trolls. Apologies
@ Busi, finally written evidence that people base their opinions of an entire residential area with a complex and texured history, based on 3 sentences and a video.
@Buchu , I’m South African and I’ve lived in Cape Town for ten years…
Parts of gentrifying Woodstock, especially parts of Lower Main Road, remind me of New Zealand. Africa is a Country even thinks so:
http://bit.ly/i2sKMO
nice article about the issue http://tinyurl.com/3zrdyf5
@ Busi I assumed you were South African, I just don’t get your point.
@ Rowan nicely done, I enjoyed the video and the art.