There鈥檚 a covered bus stop that I pass every day on my way home from work. It鈥檚 on Fort Street, just past the turnoff to Craigdarroch Castle. On the brown siding of the bus stop, someone has spray-painted a picture of a woman with flowing hair and a full-length gown.
It鈥檚 a beautiful painting, stencilled vaguely in the style of Alphonse Mucha. The image is in good condition, though she鈥檚 been there for as long as I鈥檝e been walking that way. The gold paint stands out dramatically against the darker background of the bus stop. With the falling cherry blossoms all around her, she looked like the personification of spring.
She鈥檚 no longer there. A few days ago, someone painted over what was technically graffiti on the bus stop. Ironically, the paint job intended to cover up the artwork is patchy at best; cheap brown paint, not quite the same shade as the bus stop, has been slapped ineffectively over the golden stencilling. The paler portions still show through.
The siding used to be a work of (albeit illegal) art, and now it鈥檚 just another ugly bus stop, patched up against the onslaught of graffiti and looking the worse because of it.
鈥淜ind of a shame,鈥� I thought to myself as I walked past. A shame that the people determined to stamp out graffiti couldn鈥檛 have made an exception for a work that clearly wasn鈥檛 doing anybody any harm, that was clearly intended to beautify, that actually did beautify 鈥� and a shame that it was replaced, in the name of obeying the letter of the law, with something ugly and crude.
But graffiti isn鈥檛 objectionable because it鈥檚 ugly; it鈥檚 often dynamic and colourful, actually. It鈥檚 objectionable because it interferes with how we鈥檙e encouraged to think about property and public space.
If you Google 鈥淰ictoria graffiti,鈥� you鈥檒l run across the city鈥檚 anti-graffiti page, which sounds high-minded but undeniably WASPish as it denounces the dangers of decreasing property values. The rest of the top hits, on the other hand, are galleries devoted to recording and documenting West Coast graffiti as 鈥渕omentary pockets of expression doomed to be painted over the next morning.鈥�
The Internet, at least, is firmly in the camp of graffiti-as-art-form 鈥� and it鈥檚 a popular opinion in Victoria, especially since the majority of our street art isn鈥檛 gang-affiliated.
Now, it鈥檚 all well and good for me to have a moment of graffiti sympathy after my favourite painting was callously smeared over, but I don鈥檛 own property. I鈥檝e never been a victim of graffiti. Although I live downtown, graffiti doesn鈥檛 bring down the value of my block. I鈥檝e never lived in a neighbourhood where its presence indicates that my area is less safe, less valuable, less enviable than other areas. I acknowledge that I鈥檝e never dealt with the downsides of graffiti.
Still, many street artists would argue that they鈥檙e not attempting to harm, but to beautify or even just engage with public space. For many opponents, it鈥檚 not why the graffiti is there, but simply that it鈥檚 there. Someone has had the audacity to say this space belongs to them, too. Our society privileges ownership and property, and graffiti challenges that. Not deeply, perhaps, but visibly.
I think it鈥檚 interesting that we鈥檙e keen to paint over illegal street art 鈥� are firmly convinced that it鈥檚 the correct thing to do (and I鈥檓 not saying it鈥檚 not) 鈥� yet have much more tolerance for larger-scale instances of public disfigurement.
I鈥檓 thinking mouldering car parks and neglected lots, but since neither of these cases involves someone doing something with someone else鈥檚 property, we slot these cases into a different mental category. There鈥檚 a piece of disused property on Yates Street that鈥檚 been lying half-submerged in stagnant water for months. It鈥檚 hideous (and maybe a health hazard) but the damage has been inflicted by the owner, so it鈥檚 OK.
We鈥檙e never really talking about beauty when we talk about graffiti 鈥� we鈥檙e talking about who has the right to do what where.
Neglect for ownership reasons? OK. Graffiti for beautification鈥檚 sake? Not OK. And I鈥檓 not arguing with that, not necessarily, but it鈥檚 important that we get the terms of our conversation straight.
