Blog Posts - relationships

Senior Sprayers Make Their Mark

December 05, 2012 By Victoria Robinson

If we want to challenge negative attitudes about aging, we sometimes need to examine our own attitudes first. That’s what German seniors are doing, with the help of younger artists. This intergenerational exchange takes place in the streets rather than in museums, through spray paints rather than oil paints. Graffiti workshops and classes are popping up across the country, and they are surprisingly popular.

Berlin-based artist Stephanie Hanna began her Senior Street Art workshop in 2005, never dreaming it could sustain momentum for five years. Born in 1972, Hanna conceived of the project as a way to bridge the generation gap. Her workshop participants ranged in age from 50 to 85.

The inspiration for the project came spontaneously one day when Hanna noticed the “tagged” and spray-painted walls of a cultural center for seniors in the Kreuzberg section of Berlin. Delighted by the visual juxtaposition of old and young, she also realized the less delightful result of decades of urban planning: the generations had become socially segregated. The Kreuzberg Center, she decided, would be the perfect home for the Senior Street Art workshop.

Hanna studied stage and costume design in college and has always been interested in participatory art and performance. The segue from her education to her real-life artistic exploration was a logical one for her, since she equates “creating” with “acting.” For this particular project she wondered, “Who is visible in society, and in the streets, and how? Who wouldn’t most likely claim the streets through graffiti and street art?” She hoped the process of teaching her students how to (legally) spray, stencil, draw and paint in public spaces would inspire and empower them in unexpected ways.

Mindful of the potential for media exploitation of her project, Hanna took care not to sensationalize the novelty of “grandma doing graffiti.” The proof of her care can be detected in the quotes from the workshop participants, which reveal the complexity of bridging the communication gap between generations:

Graffiti doesn’t unite people, because there are different opinions on it. But it produces communication, encounters. I see the things differently now, too, more intensively. I really don’t mind if there is a face on the streets, not just bare walls. I enjoy, and know that not everything can be perfect.

Meanwhile, this video of the project may be in German, but the sound of joy in the voices is a universal language.
 

kunst nächste nachbarin der wildnis from stephanie hanna on Vimeo.