Foshan, 2013
Renewal 2013 is a collaborative art project initiated by Artistic Tentative Survival Office (ATSO) in Foshan. Its theme focuses on local street art culture responding different social issues in the city.
My intention was to “redecorate” the wall of the toilet with a graphical motif. I have chosen the commonly known illegal STD treatment posters in China as my subject, with the modification of the treatment referral address to the ATSO address.
STD treatment posters culture
The illegal STD treatment posters (in fact all types of illegal posters) in China have been visual outcries from the undermined people in the sociality for decades. They are designed by unskilled workers with simple form and composition to communicate simple messages: their trades and their numbers. Subjects of the posters vary between STD treatment, handyman, pumping, unlicensed electrician, fake invoices, fake licensing and even dating. People do not notice them these days, because there are simply too many of them everywhere. The ever wealthier middle classes in the city also no longer needed their services. They have become visual noise of the city.
This culture will still exist at the fringe of the city reminding people what it was back in the day.
