Graffiti: city of Creativity or city of Crime?
Graffiti has been a long-time controversial issue in our society. Some may think it is a form of artistic expression, while others propose to entirely ban graffiti. As one of the Melbournians, people are blessed with nature’s beautiful surroundings. How would you feel while seeing chaotic tags on a public wall while walking down the street?
In this project, two different voices are raised by the interviewees to discuss whether Melbourne is a city of art or a city of vandalism.
Anti-social emotions (Flinders Lane, 30 May)
Graffiti presents the public with provocative images and vulgar expressions, which can exert a bad influence on the whole city. Not only does graffiti lead to crimes, but the scribblers also harbour disruptive anti-social feelings and behaviours inside of them. The ‘Fxxx the polices’ tags on Flinders Court is clearly showing the anti-social emotions. According to a recent report in The Age, The City of Melbourne has spent more than $1.1 million on graffiti removal this financial year as it tries to clean up the city.
Anti-social emotions (Flinders Lane, 30 May.)
Negative emotions can be an impetus for graffiti-related vandalism. According to Benjamin Walker, vandalism is usually done by juveniles. In the same article, he quotes Dr. Jeffery Chase, a clinical psychologist, who says that “Vandalism to me is basically anger.” Dr. Chase goes on to say that this type of vandalism is misplaced anger that is released on inanimate objects rather than living beings.
The Crime (Degraves St, 30 May)
The increase in graffiti tagging is reflected in crime statistics, with 64 graffiti offences recorded in 2019 in Melbourne, 90 in 2020 and 171 in 2021. A spokesman for Victoria Police said Operation Fade began in the CBD in late February this year, targeting those involved in graffiti and vandalism.
graffiti vandals even arouse questions in the hearts of the citizens by making them feel that the government authorities are incapable of protecting them from graffiti scribblers, thus making them further insecure.
Social menace (Asian supermarket on Flinders Street, 29 May )
Today, graffiti vandals use markers and spray paint as their most common medium for creating graffiti, which makes it a much bigger problem. Painting over the graffiti is a costly affair, which the owners of the property being vandalized have to bear. The Asian Supermarket owner, Taihsuan Yang, says all of the graffiti on the door is done randomly without permission. ‘I have to give up my own time, own money to clean up those tags, and I know they will be back again soon.’ Ms. Yang said.
Social menace (behind the supermarket, 29 May)
Graffiti vandals have been defacing buildings and empty shop-front windows in the CBD in what Ms. Yang has described as “shocking” and "senseless."
"There was a beautiful wall art back here, but they just added on those tags like 'freaks'," she said.
Graffiti done without proper authority cannot be considered as art since immature vandals simply use graffiti as a means to seek infamy. Graffiti is more than an irresponsible and dangerous form of art that promotes irresponsibility.
Cost
Though graffiti may appear to be a radical form of art, to the people whose belongings have been disfigured by graffiti, it is nothing more than an unwanted form of vandalism, which is not only distressing but also extremely difficult to remove. The government and the public will have to bear heavy costs in order to protect themselves from the graffiti vandals. According to Ablate, a Melbourne graffiti removal organization, the annual cost of removing graffiti in Australia exceeds $2 billion. In Melbourne, the annual cost of removing graffiti exceeds $100 million.
Urban Culture (Hosier Lane, 25 March)
There was an inherent conflict between the City of Melbourne’s crackdown on graffiti taggers and its encouragement and promotion of street art.
One thing about Melbourne that is memorable for tourists is the urban art and graffiti culture. Even though many of the lanes have been developed and the city has been heavily gentrified, Melbourne still holds its own in the graffiti, urban art, and fine art cultural milieu.
Hosier Lane was once the highlight of Melbourne’s urban art space, voted the number one free tourist attraction in Australia for many years.
That is not Melbourne (South Yarra, 9 Jun).
Graffiti as an urban culture is a beautiful form of calligraphy.
Our second interviewee, Zen Yu, a graffiti lover, said: “In one way, the city encourages certain forms of creativity, but the idea that you can control everything is not realistic,” he said.
“We all know cities that are very clean, very orderly, and very boring, and that’s not Melbourne. We want our cities to be clean, hygienic, and liveable, but we don’t want them to be excluded from being creative and spontaneous.”
Representation of social change (Collingwood, 25 May)
Political and social themes are powerfully represented. Graffiti can also be a medium for voices of social change, protest, or expressions of community desire. The graffiti about Aboriginals’ rights in the Collingwood area well represents political and social justice.
Although graffiti is considered a kind of free artistic expression, however, freedom should be an act of consideration and respect to the public. Marking or tagging in public spaces without the consent of the owner can be illegal. If graffiti is considered art, it should at least be done right and legally (outside Collins St precinct, 30 May).
