Writing on the Ruins

The 'Eternity' Man

At 12:00am on the 1st of January 2000, the Sydney Harbour Bridge had the word 'Eternity' emblazoned upon it. Each year, the Harbour Bridge becomes a site for broadcasting an image or text on New Year's Eve. The text or image could be poignant, fun, or simply a logo to match the theme of the event. It is a spectacle not just for local audiences; not only is it broadcast nationally, but it also receives a high international audience as it is one of the first cities to bring the New Year to a start.

http://www.sydneynewyearseve.com/fireworks/archive-gallery/#prettyPhoto[777]/4/

So when 'Eternity' was shining from the Harbour Bridge, with a smiling and winking face, it created a mixed message. The Sydney New Year's Eve website states that the theme was to pay 'tribute' to the city of Sydney. (http://www.sydneynewyearseve.com/fireworks/archive-gallery/#prettyPhoto)

In this act, a single man, and the word that he had written on the surfaces of Sydney became a contributor towards, and representative of a City Council's public image, and 'message' for the upcoming year. The importance of the term, and also the font and visual construction of this text, 'Eternity' will be discussed further in class. But I want to also mention how this example of graffiti (I will endeavour to address how the phrase 'Eternity' shows parallels to understanding of contemporary graffiti 'tags') has become an historical entity; no longer the simple scrawling in chalk of a man, but a loaded term within a specific city context.

Further information on Arthur Stace and his identity as 'The Eternity Man' can be found: http://www.nma.gov.au/exhibitions/eternity/home
(Notice that this is a National Museum of Australia website: this holds particular importance when considering the transferal of public graffiti into a historical, and government/council-informed space).