Has anyone seen Såg 45?

Has anyone seen Såg 45? Trailer for exhibition in Stockholm, Sweden.

Saturday 28.03.20, 5 pm – 9 pm, Slathusområdet.

I sit in the back seat of the Såg’s old Volvo. This is the first time I’ve really met him. Before that, we have only greeted quickly a few times. It’s fun for me because I’ve been curious about the new generation of graffiti painters from Umeå. I saw traces of him as I cycled around Västerslätt, Umeå’s most beautiful industrial area. It struck me that it is an odd name he chose.

We are now on our way out to look for a surveillance camera at a train stand. Sågen is convinced that it sits on a specific pole in the corner of one of the train halls. It should apparently be small, black and it should flash a red light. We squeeze through bushes and snows, wherever we go there is no reason to be if you are not interested in painting the subway. Sågen moves accustomed and keeps away branches that run the risk of whipping me in the face. When we have arrived he points out the pole where the camera would have been located but notes that the camera is not there any more.

“But”, I say, “there are two other cameras sitting in the same direction.”

“So they”, he says, “no, they don’t work”.

“How do you know that?” I ask.

“We have passed them a lot of times and nothing ever happens.” Såg responds as if it were the most obvious thing in the whole world.

I stand there thinking how fun the graffiti culture is, how to interpret, speculate, guess and try to understand things you have no idea just to give yourself the feeling of control.

– Akay 2020

Related Articles

Responses