Stop 2: University of Melbourne Brownless Biomedical Library

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Enter into a library at the University of Melbourne and a different type of latrinalia appears. Instead of graffiti artists or bored teenagers, students are creating the messages scrawled on the walls. Notes are often more stylized or even artistic, as students can write without threat of interruption. One common theme among messages is that of encouragement. Notes are often positive and uplifting. These are possibly written by discouraged students trying to change their thinking, or happy students reflecting back to moments of difficulty and hoping to help those reading the graffiti. Regardless, this type of latrinalia turns the stereotypes of bathroom graffiti as crude insults and salacious phone numbers upside down, proving that it can actually improve the experience of being in a “dirty” space.