N Eighth Ave. was by far the most stereotypical in terms of expensive highrise condos looking over the skyline, ample supply of decked out hipsters, and trendy cafes and bars. This area was most noted for its high percentage of Politically/Religiously motivated artwork as seen in Photos 1 and 2. N Eighth Ave also had a significant amount Artistic/Nice Graffiti (example Photo 3). N Eighth Ave. was the only street in the study that had sculptured artwork as seen in Photo 4 with its metal sculpture piece. Graffiti and Local/Cultural artwork were found the least on this street at 23.68 and 18.18 percent respectively.
Creating a New Environment
Photo 5
Another highly distinguishing feature of N Eighth Ave. is shown in Photo 13. This photo depicts a worker painting over a mural on a garage door. The signage above shows that the building is for lease and alludes to making the building more appealling to a buyer. As the area surrounding N Eighth Ave. increases in popularity and as land values increase towards the waterfront, artwork is deemed less acceptible. This worker attempts to clean up the neighborhood by covering up existing artwork, in essence, creating a new enivornment of gentrification (Leland, 2011).
Photo 1
Photo 3
Photo 2
Photo 4
Leland, John. "In Williamsburg, Rocked Hard." The New York Times [New York] 28 May 2011, NY/Region sec. Photos collected by Meghan Kelly