So I took my first trip to Seigfred Hall’s graffiti wall/mural last week.
The area is a kind of overarching amphitheater with a central flight of stairs up its middle and three-stair-high, ledge-like stairs at each side of the original flight. At the top of the steps is the graffiti wall, stretching out overhead to Seigfried Hall, and from the wall of the building drops down a black and white, abstract mural painted by OU professor Aethelred Eldridge, who originally painted the black and white murals around campus. The wall can be found at the bottom of Seigfred Hall, by the steps that go up the side of the building. There are sculptures on each side of the wall as well that are emblazoned with Eldridge’s mural mark (among other tags and markings).
The wall was almost overwhelming and I had to take a significant amount of time standing at the bottom of it to really absorb everything about it. The artistry ranges from the crude messages that we see tagged in all kinds of obscure places, to stenciled figures, which look nice and generic. There were also tag-like signatures with details that look like they took a steady hand — the kind of graffiti that, simply put, blows my mind and makes me wonder. On one side of the wall was a Jesus figure dressed in a basketball jersey, shorts and shoes and next to him the words, “He saves, he scores.” There are also other interesting tags with unique stencil patterns repeated and tagged all over. Seeing the wall in person will help you experience the wall in all of its variety.
Side note: there was one tag that was especially compelling. It read, “This is ‘Art’” in crude, red spray-paint. That had me thinking, and it’ll have you thinking too.
Kyle Burback is a sophomore studying English. Email him at kb931012@ohio.edu.
