Mick Hartley

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Higher Ground

Underneath the A12 by the Lea in Hackney Wick:

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By street artist Donk. 

The title of this slightly post-apocalyptic photographic work is ‘Higher Ground’. According to Donk he "wanted to make an image that made some kind of a connection between human strength & vulnerability and the innate strength and vulnerability found within nature itself; an ability for survival and renewal beyond the odds. So eventually I ended up with an image depicting this lone female figure standing on top of a tower of debris, which is gradually being reclaimed by the wild."

It's encouraging to see street artists adopting the ambitious scale – and pretentious verbiage – of their more mainstream gallery peers. A sign, surely, that street art is now attracting the right sort of people.

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4 responses to “Higher Ground”

  1. Brian Micklethwait Avatar
    Brian Micklethwait

    What strikes me about that verbiage is not that it is pretentious. I don’t think it is. What strikes me about it is that it makes sense, and is almost the opposite of the kind of nonsensical and literally meaningless gibberish attached to their stuff by official indoorsy-type artists. I see a big contrast between this and regular ArtSpeak.
    I realise you are being sarcastic in your comment about the “right sort of people”. I actually think that “Donk” sounds like an okay sort of person. Educated, yes. Idiotic and a total waste of space, no.
    It’s a bit hard to tell from your photo, but it looks quite decently painted.

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  2. Brian Micklethwait Avatar
    Brian Micklethwait

    Ah, I followed the link you supplied only after doing the above comment. And there you will find photos (the one above being one of them) which show rather more clearly that this is quite well painted. As you say, photographically.

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  3. Brian Micklethwait Avatar
    Brian Micklethwait

    “the one above being one of them”? Actually, no, it looks like the above snap is yours. Sorry for confusing things.

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  4. Mick H Avatar
    Mick H

    Well yes you’re right – I was being a bit unfair on the man. By comparison to the usual artspeak this is lucid.
    And yes, this photo is mine.

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