Goodnight Raleigh - a look at the art, architecture, history, and people of the city at night

The Free Expression Tunnel – Part 2





Following up on the last post about the Free Expression Tunnel, here are more recent images. Pictured above are Kyle and Matt.

Someone made a passionate plea in The Technician last year for higher quality graffiti and less of the familiar fraternity/sorority advertisements:

There are few places you can take cans of spray paint and draw or write whatever you want on a public structure, within law and reason, and get away with it.

However, on campus, we have this luxury in the Free Expression Tunnel and should utilize it to the fullest extent.

Advertisements for sororities and fraternities with the occasional “happy birthday so-and-so” message don’t cut it. We have a design school and many other programs on campus that are meant to foster creativity, but we don’t illustrate that in the tunnel.

Give fellow students something to marvel at as they make the dreadful journey to Harrelson Hall and its extremely uncomfortable seating accommodations.

The Free Expression Tunnel – Part 1






The images above were from 2005, when my friend and neighbor Paxton helped me out with a class project. The idea was to create a movie from still images of something from beginning to end. The last image is of me; he used a photo of me wearing trendy glasses and was taken when I used to sport longer hair.
A description of the tunnel by NCSU says that

Since the 1960’s, the Free Expression Tunnel has been the University’s answer to combat graffiti on campus. Located on Central Campus the tunnel connects the two halves of campus split by the railroad track. The Free Expression Tunnel gives students a venue for expressing their thoughts and feelings about anything–from “Happy Birthday” to announcing club and organization meetings.


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