Sixdays Old Graffiti
Continuing on from yesterday’s blog and highlighting some thoughts from the article written by Peter McLennan in 1998 called ‘Bombing Shelter – Graffiti Art in Aotearoa’ (Pavement Magazine) we’re able to read views expressed by graffiti artists and make a note of the efforts of community agencies to minimise the effects of widespread graffiti.
Waitakere City Council decided to take the bull by the horns and offered Tag-Free Zone Courses. “Over the 18 months the guys on the Tag-Free Zone courses have done more than 44 murals throughout Waitakere City, including a tile mural in Parr’s Park. Barrington says that they’ve had about 60 kids through the course. Only two have left; gone back to crime, she reveals.
I seen my mates on the course and I just bucked my ideas up and got into doing this. Come to the course; go and do factories; ask factory people if you can do their fences ’cause it’s better than tagging. Makes it look tidier. We learn how to do it.
You give a can to someone who’s never used one, they go do some lines and they realise how hard it is. I’ve just started doing this, he continues. I’ve been doing it for two months now. My first piece I did was in Glen Eden, by the train station. It came out the bomb. I was real rapt.
I was like, look, ‘It’s my first piece! I coulda done better!’ But I kinda rushed it. It’s a bit dangerous ’cause you’re real paranoid and shaking, watching out for people who are watching you. It’s better when you get permission from the people, then you can relax, take your time. Usually, a big piece can take half a day, sometimes longer.
Talking to these kids, you get a sense that this isn’t just ‘pick up a can and point’. There’s definitely considerable skill involved. This is art,” boasts Truce. Nobody could do this, you know? Like, no normal old Joe that comes from art class can do this. This is something that we, like, specialised in. Real art comes from the heart.
Tagging and Graff
I still hold tagging and graff as my backbone, says DLT; as much as my own culture, which is Maori. That is two different realms. Hip-hop is my realm in modern urban society and my Maoritanga. That’s why I’m a hip-hopper because it’s very similar.
It runs parallel, like my family’s culture. It’s expression; it’s revolution; it’s all of those things that make you a better person. Not a rich person in a money sense but, mentally, it enriches you, makes you appreciate other people’s art.
What’s the future for graff? Graffiti is never going to go away, said DLT at the Graffiti Art Awards presentation the night of the competition. Once we get rid of the ghetto, then the tagging will stop.
This is a start. Waitakere started it. All the other Councils around the country are starting to pick up on what Waitakere City are doing. It’s gonna happen throughout the whole Motu. There’ll be tons of graff artists. You can take that as a declaration, if not of war, then at least that you are going to get bombed and soon! Props to DLT, Dot Barrington and all the kids on the course.”
Phat1
Since 1998 Charles Williams aka Phat1 from South Auckland has gone on to make it on the international stage of world graffiti. In July 2008 he went to Germany with the TMD Crew to defend their Write4Gold World Graffitti Title.
The lineup for the World Finale were Team Italy, Team UK, Team Australia, Team Russia, Team Germany, Team Denmark and reigning champions Team New Zealand. The final results saw Team New Zealand retain its world championship the TMD Crew (Auckland/New Zealand) taking out both the Concept Painting and Tagging categories.
Closer to home, the suburb of Flaxmere in Hawke’s Bay is a suburb not unfamiliar with controversy and misunderstanding. In my opinion it’s been persistently mislabelled by the media and earned itself the ‘tag’ if you’ll pardon the pun of being a low socio-economic suburb. This is a misnomer.
Flaxmere
How do I know that? Because I have personally driven around its streets with Flaxmere Ward Councillor Keriana Poulain of the Hastings District Council. Councillor Poulain related and showed me those areas that had been especially targeted by taggers in her Ward.
It was hard for me to relate to the suburb’s dishevelled, unkempt and neglected past that she spoke to me about. Of tracts of land between Mitchell Place and Tarbet Street that were previously dumping grounds for old cars and or household rubbish. Prime areas targeted by taggers included residential fences bounding Kingsley Park, Len Harlen Park, Tarbet Street, Arklow Place, bus shelters and the skatebowl by the shopping centre.
Why was it hard to relate? Because Flaxmere is beautiful. No matter which way you enter it, that is from Henderson Road off Omahu Road (passed the spacious and well maintained east side of Flaxmere Park) or Chatham Road off Omahu Road (passed the mature tree-lined and open spaces of Chatham Park) or Wilson Road (at the west end of Flaxmere Park) or Portsmouth Road from Stock Road which will eventually lead you back to Maraekakaho Road.
Another kind of People Power
How have this community combat previously rampant tagger activity? They took community and personal responsibility spearheaded by the equally persistent efforts of Councillor Poulain and other community groups and individuals. People Power pure and simple.
Let’s not be naive, Flaxmere has its fair share of problems but I admire this community so much. They do the business, there’s no buck passing, they roll their sleeves up and get painting. Hastings District Council also provide a contractor but they have to cover a wide area and experience has shown that immediate removal or as soon as possible is an important deterrant. Resene Paints also provide paint free to community groups to assist them in painting-out affected areas.
Some residents and community groups have elected areas to paint out graffiti whenever it appears on a fence(s) or building(s) they have chosen to care for. This simple but effective action has halted large pieces and widespread tagging throughout the suburb.
Graffiti around Flaxmere are in my opinion predominantly immature scribblings, taggers wanting to be seen. Graffiti is an artform but it ceases to be one in my opinion when it knowingly and intentionally defaces the personal property of someone else without their say so.
The expression of the artform in no way validates the wilful destruction of someone else’s property ever. When I lived in Sydney a friend told me that ‘real’ graffiti artists NEVER paint over another’s work, that would be disrespecting the artist.
That leads me to wonder sometimes if young graffiti artists here in New Zealand know their artistic tradition. I understand innovation. I understand development but when I read what some of New Zealand’s top graffiti artists have to say regarding their beliefs and why they do what they do. They seem to me, mixed up. So here’s the thing. It’s one thing to be part of a tradition and quite another to be able to articulate where you see yourself and your self expression within it. Now that would be being original!
RELATED
1. May’s Lane Street Art Project 2. JR’s TED Prize wish: Use art to turn the world inside out 3. DVD: Exit through the Gift Shop
* This is 6 of a 6 part blog. This is the final blog post in this series about Graffiti
RETURN to PREVIOUS post :: 5. Fivedays Old Graffiti l 4. Fourdays Old Graffiti l 3. Threeday Old Graffiti l 2. Twoday Old Graffiti l 1. Oneday Old Graffiti
