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The rail accident occurred at Buizingen (Halle, Belgium) on February 15, 2010. Twenty people died in the crash and over 150 were wounded. Some of the wounded had to be amputated at the scene of the accident in front of other passengers. Several hours after the disaster, many passengers were still trapped inside the car in freezing temperatures.
I chose not to publish photos of the drama, yet it would have been easy to juxtapose the side of a train accident covered with graffiti (Mad Cats, Moa, CNN,...) and my other photos of the same train a few weeks ago.(1)
Why this choice ?
Firstly, I remembered the book of Alain Lapiower "Total Respect" in which he speaks of respect and dignity. "We must say and reaffirm forcefully, rap, break or are graffe not interesting because they come from young people left behind, they are interesting because they are interesting ... It is a dignified attitude, offensive and right in a world of drift and involovement in the foreground of the scene d "news" (2)
Secondly, this blog has a modest claim to work towards recognition of graffiti as artistic expression, far from the sensationalism.
bbo
(1) Some have made this choice, see eg
http://www.graffiti-magazine.net/?p=4542
http://www.ilovegraffiti.de/lars/2010/02/15/belgium-before-and-after/
(2) Total Respect, la génération hip-hop en Belgique, p.276
de Alain Lapiower (Fondation Jacques Gueux et Editions Vie Ouvrière) 1997.