Warning: we have met the enemy and he is us: political street art in Brighton

Socially engaged art. OK, call it political art. Actually, all art is political. If it ignores social problems, then it supports the status quo by default. If we paint pretty flowers while our soldiers bomb, if we fail to protest, we enable these actions. Look at the art on Brighton’s streets. All of it says something. These photos are from the internal walls of Brighton Youth Centre on Edward Street. I’ve learnt from looking at this art that the details are crucial to meaning and effective communication. Look at the painstaking care the artists have taken to exactly shape the curve of an eyebrow or the twist of a lip. These protests are more powerful for being art: the viewer relates to the subject without words.