Broken Promises

Spurred on by social and environmental issues, American artist John Fekner relentlessly campaigned through the five boroughs of NYC with his ‘Warning Signs’ and later ‘Word Signs’ projects during the 1970s and 1980s. Using spray paint, he wrote out words, signs and symbols to shine a light on environments, buildings and structures which had been left to decay, creating hazardous conditions for locals. In doing so, Fekner hoped to lead city officials, agencies and residential communities to be more responsible and to take action. His work represented a distinct category from other graffiti on the streets of NYC at the time, which led public figures such as John Russell of the New York Times to comment that, “John Fekner is an artist who works not only in New York but with New York.”

Fekner daubed the words “Broken Promises” in a derelict Brooklyn location in the 1980s in an effort to highlight the inadequate housing and poor services afflicting the neighbourhood. Mirroring this work 34 years later, he used the same stencil in Stavanger in 2014, creating a parallel between the two locations.