Artists on the Edge
by Megan Hicks




Street art of the cardboard genre.

A fringe festival of previous packaging.

Medium, the felt tip pen. Canvases selected from recycle piles.

Design according to some universal style guide. Laborious lettering or fat capitals.

Stories true or tried. Words chosen from a shared vocabulary.

Passed on in tips on marketing from fellow supplicants.

How to win the hearts and minds of passersby. Establish relationships with regulars.

Please help. Please. Help.

Sorry to annoy.

My name is.

I am homeless. I had surgery. I escaped from violence.

I need to eat. I need a bed. I need my medication.

Thank you and God bless. God bless.

Eloquence at ground level. Cardboard footnotes to the textualized city.

Artists in assumed positions. Sit. Squat. Kneel. Lie.

Blankets. Milk crates. Bags. Dogs. Dishevelled details of the textural city.

Subservient day-long vigils. Waiting for small change. Or a change in fortune.

Pavement citizens. Immobile participants in the creative city.

Smile. Make eye contact. Don't judge.

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Megan Hicks is a freelance museum consultant and an Adjunct Fellow with the Urban Research Program at Western Sydney University. Her research interests include museums and heritage sites, the visualisation of cities and suburbs, urban imaginaries, writing in public places, and the pavement as a cultural artefact. Visit her blog, Pavement Graffiti and Other Urban Exhibits.