Walking Tour

Luke's Reflections

Going into the East London Alternative walking tour I didn’t really know what to expect; I left with a different opinion about street art and the feeling of being wowed.  

The tour started off with a little history of East London.  There were some big deregulations in immigration that caused East London to become a primarily Jewish community right up till World War II.  Unfortunately this caused the area to be on the more destructive side of the German air raids that would sweep the sector with constant bombings.  Some of the rubble and the partially demolished buildings have become a huge canvas for the talented artists of the east side.  

The community has started to pick up some steam by the amount of tourists who visit the area to look at the art.  Local businesses have aided in the culturally fertile area by letting artists paint on their walls.  However, many of the public spaces, which are some of the largest walls, have been outlawed for graffiti art.  There is a constant battle between the artists of Brick Lane and the city council.  Artists illegally cover buildings with their paint and labor, while the council issues the illustrations to be covered up.  Most of the argument lies in the inequalities of how the government chooses to eradicate these drawings.  If the artist is well known and could produce a profit the council turns a blind eye, while other artists are constantly getting fined and arrested for engaging in the same activity.  The battle for the east side of London is a fight to remain culturally rich and unique as a place that offers something most other cities cannot.

Aniket's Reflections

I paid 4 pounds to go on an Alternative London tour. Although I was a little uncertain at first, I can now say it was well worth it. This prime purpose of this tour was to go throughout the neighborhoods of East London and view some antiquated and legal/illegal works of art. 

Our tour guide was a cool guy and a painter himself so we were able to trust what he was saying about the works of art. The first form of art that was introduced to us was a little miniature statue on top of a sign post. Apparently, the artist had been going around illegally and building these little statues on every sign post he could find for a very long time. They're projected to outlive any human life. 

As we walked further in through Brick Lane, we could smell the middle eastern food since so many were competing for business there. 

My favorite painting was the one of an octopus combined with an elephant. It was actually being painted at the time but the drawing was so intricate and well designed that I even took a picture with the painter. One other form of art that really sparked my interest was a tile design of a light saber battle on the side of a parking deck. Although I'm not a big fan of Star Wars, it really peaked my interest because of the manner in which it was created. 

The tour guide explained to us that because it was illegal to put up this form of art, the artist disguised himself as a construction worker and built it at night to avoid suspicion by the police. Overall, this alternative tour was a good use of time as we could see every form of graffiti art created in Brick Lane. The tour guide was great in walking and talking us through the art and this was definitely one of my favorite tours.

Leah's Reflections

We went to the Alternative Tour AIFS set up for the students.  We met at the goat statue in East London right outside of the financial district.   Going in I honestly didn’t know anything about the tour except the information AIFS had supplied us, which said the tour explored the neighborhoods of East London. So you can imagine my surprise to meet our tour guide.  He was a tall lanky man who appeared to be in his late twenties with a scruffy beard, questionable haircut, and odd piercings.  I was uncertain of what I was getting myself into until he told us what his tour was all about.  He told us that he was going to take us through the neighborhood of East London to show us both forgotten and misunderstood street art.  This peaked my interest.  He explained that he wanted to alter how we viewed graffiti and that he did.

We started off winding through the back alleys of London.  He taught us about the differences between the local neighborhoods in the area and then stopped to show us our first piece of unnoticed art.  On the very top of the street sign’s post, a small rusted metal contraption sat.  He told us the street artist had been posting these types of objects all over the area for decades, most of which are never seen by the average person.  Before he said anything, I didn’t notice either.  This surprised me because I feel I’m usually very observant.  He definitely demonstrated his point about not seeing everything in your surroundings.

As we walked, our tour guide pointed out this wall or that graffiti tag, telling us the stories behind the art.  I realized that almost all of the art we saw had a purpose and wasn’t just painted by some bored teenage hoodlum.  My favorite was a piece we saw from a distance.  It was a muddled question mark painted in an ugly brown that really didn’t look like anything special.  Our guide told the story of MOBSTR, an artist that loved to question society.  He started out by explaining that in London there is a special group working for the government whose only role is to paint over graffiti.  MOBSTR decided to make them question their job by creating this piece.  He sprayed “Paint here” in different places on the wall one night, knowing the crew would cover it the next day.  They did and he repeated his action the next night.  By the end of the week he had tricked them into forming this question mark, forcing them to become graffiti artists themselves.  I loved how clever all of his work was.

This tour definitely changed my view on street art.  I gained a lot of respect for the people who do this.  I also gained a lot of respect for my tour guide as he told us about the neighborhood.  He was extremely knowledgeable and very passionate about the topic.  Over all this was one of my favorite experiences in London so far.