photo from Pinterest
Quite accidentally, people perform actions against walls and give meanings and roles to walls.
Let us then ponder about the consequences and implications of walls we erect:
A wall which creates a private space is a separation from others.
A wall which blocks the inside from the outside is a barrier.
A wall of prison is an obstacle of liberty.
A wall of fortified castle is a protection.
The wall which had stood and demolished between the two Germanies was unity.
A wall which is not recognised by people is nothing.
A wall covered with narrative panoramic mural wallpaper is a storybook.
A wall of a country house, covered with a pattern of women’s faces, is my childhood memory.
A wall covered with floral wallpaper in an old rural house is a decoration.
A wall covered with the Hooks and Frocks wallpaper designed by Deborah Bowness is a representation of life.
A wall on which Banksy drew his graffiti became a sketchbook.
A wall on which Richard Wright, winner of the 2009 Turner Prize, drew Gold Leaf is art.
A wall of a New York subway station on which Keith Haring drew Subway Drawings is communication.
A wall covered in red silk wallpaper in the Wallace Collection Gallery is the background of art.
With an action against walls, we have been communicating and interacting through them, though we do not realise it.
A wall means more than just a static object, even if whoever who built the wall might have had that purpose alone in mind. A wall also takes on additional meaning when there is an action against it. Human actions can define the identity of a certain place, and enable walls to become more than a wall or it makes walls nothing.
A wall becomes more itself than ever before by Semmy Lee