Writers Bench: Interview with film maker Oriel Guthrie

Writers Bench: The Evolution of Melbourne Graffiti and Street Art Culture 1980-2011 is a new documentary that studies the origins and developments of both the graffiti and street art cultures in Melbourne over the past 21 years. The film “takes the audience on a first-hand journey through the historical timeline of graffiti and street art culture in Melbourne, exploring some of the revered artists who have helped to shape Melbourne’s cultural identity.”
The documentary invites you to “meet the legends of the graffiti and street art scene, as Writers Bench guides you through the events that created the culture as we see it today. Hear stories of growing up with the movement, why each artist got involved and what influenced their style. From its raw beginnings as political and radical slogans plastered on walls throughout the suburbs, to the colourful burst of murals splashed along urban train lines, to the rise of street art as an inner city tourist attraction, Writers Bench traces the evolution of this vital artistic movement.”

The first two thirds of this film is almost a visual version of the Kings Way book, and is similar in its tracing of the origins and evolution of the movement. Like Kings Way, it begins with some background of the Sharpie subculture in Melbourne of the 1970s, who wrote simple tags on walls. It also, again like Kings Way, appropriately discusses the late great photographer Rennie Ellis, a formative documentor of Australian sub cultures, who published three books on Australian Graffiti of the 1970s and 80s.

The film cleverly documents the huge impact of hip hop culture in early 1980s Melbourne, showing the break dancers and then graffiti writers of the day. The sense of innovation and freedom of those days is displayed through the interviews with some of the writers themselves and footage of the City Square and graffiti done in the 1980s.

Writers interviewed include old school king and queens, which is in particular, along with lots of great old photos, where the gold lies in this film. Some of my favourite writers such as Duel, Krissy, Paris, Peril and Merda are interviewed. It also features street art, with street artists/people discussed and/or interviewed, including Marcos Davidson, Andy Mac, Ha Ha, Rone and Meggs.
I tracked down director Oriel Guthrie, who made the film with co-director Spencer Davids, and asked her for an interview about Writers Bench. Here it is:

EMC: What led to you deciding to make a documentary on Melbourne’s graffiti and street art scenes?
OG: Graffiti culture was something I wanted to explore after I briefly touched on it in my last film ‘Skip Hop’ a documentary showcasing Australian Hip Hop culture. I was particularly interested in the early graffiti culture from the 1980’s, as there had not been enough documentation from that era. Melbourne has such a strong art culture and I feel its important to show people what has come from this city.

EMC: Graffiti writers in particular are often elusive and suspicious of outsiders, how did you approach the writers/artists?

OG: From my past film and involvement with the hip hop community I have developed great connections within the culture. I have found that once you gain the respect and trust from one writer, it leads on to another.I have always been pretty serious about the film and doing it justice to the culture. My co-director Spencer has a strong connection with the graffiti culture and has been able to get in contact with a lot of valuable writers. Most artists were positive about the project and enthusiastic about showing the history of the culture and their legacy.

EMC: I think it’s great that Melbourne graffiti, particularly the old school graffiti time of the 1980s is starting to get the recognition it so rightly deserves, with the publishing of the King’s Way book and now this film in particular. I find the more I learn about graffiti and speak to writers, the greater my respect for them grows, but it really is a closed world and difficult for outsiders to understand. Did the making of this film give you a greater insight into how important these writers/artists were/are?

OG: I couldn’t agree more with you!  Since delving into the production of this documentary I have discovered the 1980’s graffiti scene to be such a fascinating subculture in Melbourne. With the post modern punk movement and Sharpie gang culture fading out in the early 80’s, and the new generation discovering  the hip hop movement that exploded worldwide, Melbourne became rich in colour and vibrancy, transcending from the inner city to the outer suburban train lines. At the same time, we had artists like ‘Boxman’ & ‘Conehead’ who were coming from a more alternative scene and were doing early street art around the CBD, long before the popular movement we have seen in the early 2000’s. People are drawn to Melbourne for its graffiti & street art scenes, this makes the culture forever evolving and really exciting.

EMC: What were some of your highlights during the making the film?

OG: Highlights were having the privilege in meeting these graffiti legends and listening to their stories of growing up with the movement, their motivation, inspiration and sharing their collection of works. I have so much respect for the amount of skill, determination and energy that goes into graffiti. Some of the pieces that were done in the early days are really impressive, considering the limited amount of paint they had.

EMC: How has the response to the film been so far? I think some of the writers really enjoyed it, which is great.

OG: So far we have had great feedback from the writers, which is so important for this film. That was the most nerve racking thing for me, leading up to the premiere screening and seeing all the writers pour into the cinema! I have also had some great feedback from the general public who had no idea there was so much history in Melbourne’s Graffiti culture. Its important for this film to be interesting to all walks of life!

EMC: One of my only criticisms of the film would be that it jumps from old school graff and early street art into contemporary street art, with little discussion on mid school (90s) and new school (2000s) graffiti. Many writers and crews from these schools, such as the important 90s/2000s crew 70K, for example, were not discussed at all. Was this a conscious decision, did you base it on wanting to interview people directly (as I’d imagine 70K would not like to be interviewed for anything, even if you could find them in the first place)?

OG: I can understand your point, we are actually adding more graffiti artists to cover the late 90’s & early 2000’s graffiti scene. We tried to steer away from focusing on individual crews and naming writers and their crews. We approached the graffiti movement as a whole, by including interviews from writers across many different crews and environments. I hope this doco inspires someone else to keep documenting graffiti culture and tell their story or add to what’s missing from Writers Bench, to carry on and show what’s happening from now, and the new scene that has evolved. Some of the stuff people are doing now is insane!

EMC: Who was the masked writer with the memorable ‘fuck capitalism’ rant in the bathroom? (you don’t have to answer)

OG: I’m sorry, he must remain anonymous! But he does come from a very significant crew if you join the dots together.

EMC: For those that miss this final screening on Saturday, do we really have to wait until August 2012 until the documentary is available on DVD?

OG: We would love for the film hit the festival market and get seen to the rest of Australia, Europe and America. I feel its important to show Melbourne’s rich history in graffiti and street art to the rest of the world.  DVD release is the last step in releasing this documentary, but something we’re truly looking forward to!

Writers Bench is showing its last screening (for now) at ACMI this Saturday at 4pm, I urge everyone to see this important document of Melbourne’s cultural history.