I found out on Tuesday that my free time was going to be dramatically reduced from Thursday as I received confirmation that I would be recommencing my job at a bilingual school outside of Nouméa. I decided to use my last morning to go and spend an hour taking photos. I didn't have a plan of where to go so I googled 'grafitti' and 'Nouméa' to see what pictures it would bring up. Three of the first six pictures were of the same image and it was one I had seen on the side of La Fédération des Oeuvres Laïques de Nouvelle-Calédonie (F.O.L.) building late last year when I went to see the movie 'L'ordre et la morale'.
The F.O.L. building sits on a hill looking out over Nouméa. Currently it can be see day and night because of the large SOS, lit up at night, on the front of the building. The building needs major works to bring it up to saftey standards and sadly money is lacking hence the call for help.
The F.O.L. building sits on a hill looking out over Nouméa. Currently it can be see day and night because of the large SOS, lit up at night, on the front of the building. The building needs major works to bring it up to saftey standards and sadly money is lacking hence the call for help.
F.O.L. up on the hill seen from Avenue De La Victoire and the view of Nouméa from the front of F.O.L.
Okay, back to the artwork. The reason I think that the following picture is on the net so often compared to other street art in Nouméa is due to the number of buses bringing Australian holidaymakers, who have just arrived for the day on their cruise ship of choice, to look at the view but what they see first as they are driven up to the building is this.
I personally think it is beautiful and the best artwork I have seen around Nouméa. It has been encroached on as other artist have added to the wall and I think eventually someone will work over it which would be a shame.
The building itself is covered on three sides with commisioned and uncommisioned work. As I wondered round I took quite a lot of photos and below are a few of my favourite ones.
The building itself is covered on three sides with commisioned and uncommisioned work. As I wondered round I took quite a lot of photos and below are a few of my favourite ones.
I like the rasta man but my son wanted to know why he was doing a Spiderman hand.
This is a picture of a shipping container covered in street art with the SOS of La FOL in the background.
These two are stencils and I found them found in a couple of spots around the building.
The writing says 'because the grafitti uses it's bombs without ever killing anyone'. The writing above this quote has been grafittied over and i couldn't make out what it had said.
A cool shark.
Couldn't disagree with the comment on the steps.
So I had a fun morning taking my time and enjoying the artwork and grafitti around the building. I know I could come back again next year and there would be new and interesting artwork for me to discover as it seems to be a place that groups and individuals can express themselves freely.
I have added lots of pictures of my trip to F.O.L. on the photos page along with further photos from my first post. I'm happy for your thoughts and again if there is any street art that you have seen that would be good for me to visit and photograph let me know.
Location: La F.O.L. - 51 Rue Du Pasteur Marcel Ariege, Centre Ville.
I have added lots of pictures of my trip to F.O.L. on the photos page along with further photos from my first post. I'm happy for your thoughts and again if there is any street art that you have seen that would be good for me to visit and photograph let me know.
Location: La F.O.L. - 51 Rue Du Pasteur Marcel Ariege, Centre Ville.
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