But a group of New Zealand creatives are hoping to raise the profile of the humble street poster.
Rat World Magazine founder and editor-in-chief Jennifer Cheuk, of Auckland, hosted a panel in Dunedin on Saturday on the power of street postering, as part of the NZ Young Writers Festival.
The festival shone a light on alternative forms of writing that were encountered every day, but were not necessarily recognised as writing — such as the street poster.
"Postering is such an important thing to me.
"It is so prevalent, accessible and it’s such a wonderful form of narrative, communication and writing, but it’s maybe something that we don’t particularly see as a writing practice.
"It’s about getting out there and doing something on a blank page and saying you can make something out of just this page."
The city had a strong and prevalent postering community, which she and the other panellists had noticed.
Events like these were necessary for expanding the breadth of what people considered writing and writers to be, Ms Cheuk said.
"It’s really cool to challenge what we think writing is.
"I really want people to know that there are so many other forms of writing out there."
The panel featured speakers that engaged with posters in different ways, from activism and events to music and arts.
Attendees were able to put these skills to use in a make-your-own poster workshop, by creating posters that empowered them and made them happy.
Ms Cheuk hoped the workshop would show people that they too could create something from a just single blank page.
"We see them in the streets, we see them just everywhere — that’s so exciting.
"There’s something here and it’s clearly very special and such a core to the community."
