Wednesday 10 February 2016

ETERNITY

The word "Eternity" was a graffito tag recorded over an approximate 35-year period from 1932 to 1967, written numerous times in chalk in the streets of Sydney, Australia. The word had been written by Arthur Stace, an illiterate former soldier, petty criminal and alcoholic who became a devout Christian in the late 1940s.

For years after his conversion up until his death in the 1960s, Stace walked the streets of Sydney at night writing the single word "Eternity" on walls and footpaths in his unmistakable copperplate handwriting. Stace's identity remained unknown until it was finally revealed in a newspaper article in 1956. It is estimated Stace wrote the word over half a million times.

After Stace's death, the Eternity signature lived on. Australian contemporary artist, illustrator and filmmaker Martin Sharp noticed it and celebrated Stace's one-man campaign in many of his works. More recently, some Australian Christian groups, including those at universities, have run evangelistic campaigns whose promotion involved chalking "Eternity", after Stace's fashion, on footpaths.

As part of the fireworks on Sydney Harbour to mark New Year's Day of the year 2000, the graffito "Eternity" was illuminated on the Sydney Harbour Bridge. This moment was symbolically recreated later that year as part of the Sydney 2000 Olympics Opening Ceremony, beamed to billions of television viewers worldwide. In 2001 the Council of the City of Sydney was granted a trademark (817532) on the script in order to protect it from indiscriminate commercial use.

The newspaper "Eternity" was named after the tag. Founded in 2009, it has a broad circulation amongst Christian groups in Australia. One of the works by English street artist Banksy during his October 2013 "residency" in New York City depicts a worker washing away the Eternity tag (see below).

This post is part of the Wednesday Waters meme,
and also part of the Waterworld Wednesday meme,
and also part of the Outdoor Wednesday meme,
and also part of the Wordless Wednesday meme,
and also part of the ABC Wednesday meme,
and also part of the Nature Footstep Digital Art Meme.
Sydney Harbour Bridge
Arthur Stace at work
Arthur Stace
Banksy's graffito
Eternity


8 comments:

  1. A very good choice for this weeks letter..... a word with lots of weight in it... and at the same time, something nobody realy can grasp...

    Have a nice abc-day / - week
    ♫ M el ☺ d y ♫ (abc-w-team)

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  2. Hello interesting post and wonderful photos. Enjoy your day and the week ahead!

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  3. Fascinating - great shots!
    Thank you for sharing at http://image-in-ing.blogspot.com/2016/02/potted.html

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  4. that's something to learn about...I've been to Sydney and it's good to know that.

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  5. fascinating power of a single word
    ROG, ABCW

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  6. What a wonderful story, love the dedication of Arthur Stace. Many of our church youth attend and have attended Hillsong Church University in Australia.
    Ann

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  7. That is fascinating! Wish I could visit Sydney!

    Leslie
    abcw team

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  8. great and thoughtful images all of them.

    Thanks for linking up with NF DAM. I´m sad to say you are the only one this week. Andrea is gone to Thailand and don´t have the time. :( If people don´t come back soon I have to close it. :(

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