Ola Ignasiak

In this instance it takes the form of ‘hacking’ nature’s incidental puddles of water that form around drains, paving slabs, potholes and indentations throughout the urban sprawl.

By adding vibrantly coloured vegetable dyes to the puddles strewn throughout uninspiring, downtrodden and somewhat forgotten parts of the city, Ola is able to assume ownership of the municipal floorspace. 

A communally owned space is stolen by the application of an idea. This idea is that the city can be tirelessly mundane, dirty, disgusting, neglected and filthy but rather than wallow in critique or denounce and deprecate the city Ola is able to find the aesthetic weak spots and exploit them. 

Unlike street artists, as we understand them, what Ola and her husband, Andrzej, does is still entrenched in risk. We have learnt to respect and appreciate graffiti-style artists and even go to great lengths to preserve their work. Ola’s work, however, could be seen by the authorities as an efface, a criticism, a protest, or perhaps vandalism. With Ola’s work there is still risk and with that risk comes the reward, street art that IS the street and a return to the sacred temporality of guerilla art.

The acidic colour (usually pink) punctuates the pavement like cells in a living being, having some fictional function to defend the city against its invading organisms, the people that inhabit, abuse and destroy it. 

The ephemeral nature of each guerilla intervention is reflective of the flux of nature. Here today, gone tomorrow is the mantra of each colour insertion, just as in nature.

Although, in the moment, however long or short, one can wonder at the allure and enchanting cheekiness of the contrast between the dismal grey surroundings and the blissfully bold and alien-coloured liquids that infuse and meld with the muddy puddles that have the habit of Un-greying the city, even if just for a little while.