When Street Art Turns Itself Into a Mirror
From colourful chalk scribbles by kids to art works by Banksy, street art is to be found everywhere. Mostly it’s a name uglily spray-painted on a random object. Sometimes it’s fun our beautiful. And sometimes there’s a message. A message you have to think about or do a little research on before you can grasp it.
The first time I saw this simple black-and-white message in sans-serif lettering, was along a highway in The Netherlands. I thought it was fun, looked cool and it reminded me a bit of some free postcards I really liked when I was in university a few decades ago. I didn’t make much of it. Even forgot about it. Until I saw it again. A few hundred kilometers and a crossed border later. Later, I saw it in some other places, in different European countries. Black letters on a white background, slightly dancing, forming a two-word sentence in french: j’existe. I exist.
An internet search revealed some wild theories. There’s the position that it’s a play on words attributed to Camus, I revolt, therefore I exist. Apparently people believe that this is a motto taken up by others that root for the liberation of the Palestinian people. Or something like that. The search also reveals that this art, mainly on stickers, can be found all over Europe and is a project created by artist Thierry Jaspart.
Passing over the more speculative forum posts, you quickly find the official j’existe social media accounts, posting nothing more than the words j’existe. I exist. The bios on Instagram and Twitter reveal what this project really is about. It’s to simplify “every graffiti or social media post to what it really says”. It’s a comment on street art and social media. It says you can concoct all the justification for those you like, but basically there’s just one message you are conveying: j’existe or I exist.
J’existe.
I exist.
One would almost say “me too”.
Le Giroflier Royal loves street art. Follow us on Instagram and see pieces that in some shape or form stand out. We’ll be posting a few in the coming week, and of course when we find nice ones in the future.
