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Graffiti Artists on Tags, Murals, and Rob Ford

By Hamutal Dotan

“There’s pieces on the street that have been there for 20+ years. [Rob Ford's] not really aware of how much that might’ve meant… That stuff has its history. It’s a part of Toronto, a part of Toronto’s history.”
“Nobody really understands what his definition of graffiti really is. So there is a lot of concern coming from the small business community, there is a lot of concern coming from the muralist and artists.”

On March 29, several Toronto street artists had a meeting with Rob Ford, to discuss the battle he has started waging against graffiti in Toronto. His sentiments? “Every one of these last bastards, if he has to…he’s going to get every vandal in jail,” is how Zion, owner of graffiti store The Bombshelter, described the tone of that encounter.
Created by Char Loro, a 22-year-old videographer, photographer, and Radio and Television Arts student at Ryerson, this video is one response to Ford’s escalating fight to wipe Toronto streets and storefronts of graffiti—an attempt to explore “design in dissent,” she told us, to raise awareness of Toronto’s street artists, and to consider some more nuanced approaches to dealing with graffiti in the city. Loro gives most of the camera time over to the artists to speak in their own words, some positive, some less so, providing an interesting window into a community which, much of the time, is hidden in plain sight.

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  • http://twitter.com/Tedhealey Dead Robot

    I would love to see artists and muralists go all V for Vendetta on Toronto's alleyways and walls if Ford starts to ticket or jail people.

    But judging by how well Mr Ford cleaned up that photo-op alley, the artists wouldn't have to fight hard.

  • tyrannosaurus_rek

    It's a waste of time and money going after graffiti and street art in a top-down after-the-fact punishment-oriented manner like this. Generous designations of alleys, laneways, certain existing structures/walls, and the creation of additional surfaces throughout the city would go a lot further toward diminishing the amount of unsolicited graffiti on walls visible from the street.

    But let's be realistic too: nothing is going to stop tagging.

  • tomwest

    … or the City could just clean it off as soon as it appeared. Provide an at-cost service to property owners for crews with specalised equipment to come and clean it off.
    A lot of graffitti is done by people trying to make a mark on the world. If the fruits of their efforts vanished within 24 hours, the reward would be less.

  • HotDang

    I think that it looks rather lovely, and wouldn't support such an initiative.

  • tyrannosaurus_rek

    Which Toronto do you live in? In the Toronto I know, city work backlogs are measured in months if not years. 24 hours? Never going to happen.

    And as I mentioned in the other thread, the most it would achieve is displacement to new areas.

  • isyouhappy

    Ford's misuse of the broken window theory is played out and a huge stretch to create a diversion to the legitimate problems that plague our city. I'm all fine with 'cleaning up the city', let's start with the enormous amount of corporate marketing and advertising that covers our public space. I'd much prefer to see graffiti and tagging than another ad or guerilla marketing flash mob.

  • tyrannosaurus_rek

    I'd be happy if we could do something about the litter and terrible state of the sidewalks. Businesses should be required to keep the sidewalk adjacent to their property clear of litter and stains just as they're required to shovel snow and deal with ice. You have employees, give one a broom!

  • tomwest

    … or the City could just clean it off as soon as it appeared. Provide an at-cost service to property owners for crews with specalised equipment to come and clean it off.
    A lot of graffitti is done by people trying to make a mark on the world. If the fruits of their efforts vanished within 24 hours, the reward would be less.

  • HotDang

    I think that it looks rather lovely, and wouldn't support such an initiative.

  • tyrannosaurus_rek

    Which Toronto do you live in? In the Toronto I know, city work backlogs are measured in months if not years. 24 hours? Never going to happen.

    And as I mentioned in the other thread, the most it would achieve is displacement to new areas.

  • isyouhappy

    Ford's misuse of the broken window theory is played out and a huge stretch to create a diversion to the legitimate problems that plague our city. I'm all fine with 'cleaning up the city', let's start with the enormous amount of corporate marketing and advertising that covers our public space. I'd much prefer to see graffiti and tagging than another ad or guerilla marketing flash mob.

  • tyrannosaurus_rek

    I'd be happy if we could do something about the litter and terrible state of the sidewalks. Businesses should be required to keep the sidewalk adjacent to their property clear of litter and stains just as they're required to shovel snow and deal with ice. You have employees, give one a broom!

  • http://twitter.com/kt_toronto KT

    for what it is worth, if you f__k with my place with unwelcome graffti (which you have had), then it is a personal matter.  Rob, it is a go time with these losers with poor excuses.