Saturday, October 14, 2006

Walking on Gandhi's head


















On the topic of education...

Do you remember the Chalk the Walk street art competition I showed you on September 23rd? I went back a couple of days after the event to see the finished artworks. Some were magnificent. I asked myself if anyone would dare walking on them. You bet! See above. Do you think this little girl is too young to learn about Gandhi? Perhaps (although... ?) but all along the bridge she and her dad (and the mum following behind) treaded over a red aeroplane, a green Martian, an Aboriginal dot-paint snake, St George on his white horse, fighting the dragon, Steve Irwin holding a baby crocodile against his cheek, just to name a few - without a care in the world. I'm angry with the parents. I don't understand how they could waste this golden opportunity to teach their child to see, appreciate and respect the works under her feet. Curiosity and respect, two fundamental qualities to me...
The following day, the bridge was washed clean, the drawings were gone.

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

Alors qu'un petit enfant est si avide de regarder et de connaître...Comme toi, ça m'agace souvent mais que faire sur le moment?

JohnnyParsons said...

C'est magnifique. J'adore les enfants et le tete de Ghandi. The photo is fun to behold.

Meg said...

Agree with you completely! I don't step on carpets in antique shops, either - which makes it a bit difficult to walk around the shop, but nevertheless.....

Anonymous said...

Still, is the destruction of and/or disinterest in chalk drawings, as serious a matter as our loss of, disinterest in, and/or tokenisation of the ideals once represented by past icons?

Nathalie H.D. said...

Ah Norman, it all STARTS with chalk drawings. It's the tip of the iceberg...
Alice, what to do? I don't have the answer. Work on education again and again. It seems to me education is the key to so many things. Yet, not enough politicians seem to give it enough attention.

Bill said...

I love sidewalk drawings, but I have not seen any in Delta. Some of the 3D drawings I have seen look almost real! One of my favorite was of an 8 foot long Coke bottle that looked like it had fallen on the sidewalk! Alas, I have only seen thim on the net, not in real life :(

Anonymous said...

Now, now, Nathalie, blaming the politicians again? You'd remember the seemingly strong position of Bob Carr when he swept into Power as NSW Premier? Bob wanted to lift State Schools by restoring standards and classroom attitudes; but he was violently opposed by an alliance of the NSWTF Union leadership, the Parents leadership, and various other 'progressive' minorities until he was forced to give up. We often end up getting what vocal well-organised minorities want. The majority may have wanted Bob to succeed but, as all too often happens, they weren't prepared to stand up to the vocal activists.

That's 'democracy' at work.