COR304 Final - Bombings from on High

Bombing from on High

Bombings from on High is an interactive digital exhibit, making use of photographs, written descriptions, and audio elements, that examines graffiti in the city of Montréal through the lens of height. High places have an obvious appeal for graffiti writers - if your tag or throw-up appears high up, it will be visible from further around, displaying your name and work to a wider view. It serves as a claim to any viewer who can see it: I am claiming this space and making it mine.

However, such locations also carry a greater risk, for multiple reasons. More visible locations mean more eyes on your writing, and while that is the point, it's also an inherent risk if those eyes happen to belong to officials or cops. High-up, high-visibility tags can be obvious targets for rapid cleanup - as we witnessed this semester on the Molson building - and highly prominent locations may be difficult for writers to escape without being caught. But for some, that's all part of the thrill.

Elevated locations also pose the simple physical risk of being very high up while you paint. Some writers tackle this with rappelling equipment, while others simply use very long ladders. These risks are exacerbated when dealing with abandoned structures, such as the many former industrial complexes surrounding the Lachine Canal, which are often unstable and unsafe - but again, that can be part of the thrill.

Not all writers want to pursue such thrills, however, and find that effective elevated graffiti can be made without these risks. All around the city, humbler elevated structures such as overpasses are common graffiti sites, and are visible to the many people who pass by or under them.

In Bombings from on High, we exhibit eight instances of elevated graffiti around Montréal, sorting them by physical height as a method of examining their spaces and situations. All, in their own ways, broadcast a claim over their space. And all are bound by a fundamental restriction shared with the buildings themselves: nothing on the island can be taller than Mont-Royal.

We hope that this exhibit will give you a new way to think about graffiti in this city! 

Our team: 

•  Caleb Carreon - location scout, photographer, additional programming
•  Isa Flaherty - location scout, photographer 
•  Azulia Merkel - location scout, photographer, exhibit programming and website designer
•  Hazel Norton - location scout, photographer (rail bridges & Malting Plant), writer