I must admit, even though I seem to complain about things, I am very happy to have had a long involvement with visual art from graffiti (style writing for the uninitiated) to video, drawing and work on canvas as well as on paper. Art has enriched my life and widened my understanding, this stems from education and it isn’t just from art school but from actively reading and talking to a wide range of artists.

I tend to agree with the social commentators like Chuck D who rally against the war on consciousness. I want to see the world enriched by culture rather than the trappings of money, which for most people is imagined as the route to happiness. Money then gets distributed but is always missing from the places that really need it and the people who really need it when they get it don’t have the understanding that it is still not the way out of their problems.

The system has to change, yet it’s the people in the system who have to change it. The system doesn’t want to change anything, a lot of people understand that, art can be a form of protest which graffiti always has been. Most graffiti artists are quite radical, some more than others, there are pathways into many fields and many artists in turn have made exceptional contributions to culture in advertising, music, dance and visual arts.

Even if you feel ignored or hard done by, Chuck D points out that the arts and culture can make you engaged in learning and keep you free from boredom and over-consumption. That is liberating. I totally agree.