The Fleeting Permanence Of Art

I Have shown photos that included the graffiti art in a tunnel near where I work before. This was one of the first times I went down there. At that time there were some wood ramps that the local kids had built for skateboarding and graffiti art, a lot of it. While I was there this young fellow came down and started boarding around on the ramps. We circled around each other a bit sizing each other up and he finally asked what I was taking pictures for. I told him why I was there and once he was satisfied I wasn't there to get anyone in trouble or cause problems he warmed up. He talked a bit about the painting and the people who did it. It was all rather interesting to learn a bit about this small little community no one really knew about. At one point he jumped up on this ramp and asked me to take his picture with a piece he'd recently done. I never saw him again and the painting he did here is long gone, painted over by someone else. I would be disappointed coming down at times and finding out something I really liked had been painted over. Thing is, quite often, whatever had replaced it would be just as good.