When traveling, it’s fun to take a chance on offbeat tours. They give you a unique insight into the place that you’re traveling, so you often meet fascinating people, and you learn about something you might not ever otherwise know.
In my mind, the best holidays involve novelty, experiencing a place and things about that place for the very first time, and learning.
Always learning.
If you can tap into an insider’s knowledge base, and top it up with their passion for the subject, then you have the base ingredients for an awesome experience.
When you add to that mix an offbeat topic, in this case the graffiti and public murals of the Wicker Park neighbourhood, then you have the pleasure of experiencing something truly unique, gaining experience in a world you’re otherwise unlikely to ever come across.
Our guide had inside knowledge and a passion for this art form. Having interacted plenty with the rather elusive (dodge the police, don’t get caught) guerrilla artists, and researched the movement extensively from the 1930s to the present day, he brought the art to life.
With this tour you learn how the art is done, from tagging to murals. You learn about the counter culture/subculture itself. Why it arose. How it arose. What it is a response to.
He takes you through a natural progression of the work from basic gang (along with teenaged, and the disenfranchised) tags to commissioned garage doors and ultimately to business commissioned entire walls.
You learn the ways in which graffiti can build community, and the ways youth groups use the art form to empower the community’s children. You see the emergence of female artists and come to understand their struggles and inspirations.
And you take in a WIDE variety of art, and see some very interesting pieces, winding up, ultimately at the highly instagrammable, often photographed Chicago mural. You learn about the other aspects of the mural, the parts that that are rarely photographed, and the stories behind them that make them far more powerful than the instagrammable shot.
Do this tour and you dive far deeper than a single instagram shot.
This tour is a fascinating look at something I can guarantee you know little about… EVEN IF YOU THINK YOU DO. The research and groundwork that our guide has put into developing this tour are incredible. His knowledge, extensive. His passion, clearly evident.
Do it.
Tip: this tour isn’t just for the tourists. It’s for Chicago people too. It will help you to understand and appreciate the public art you have throughout your city, and it will give you an alternative appreciation of your surroundings.
You also begin at the Goddess and the Grocer… a great spot to grab a quick bite or enjoy a hot/cold drink while you’re waiting for your fellow guests to arrive.