Spray can crackdown

NDG councillors butt heads with the graffiti community over a proposed paint ban for minors

by ELISABETH FAURE

May 5, 2011

MEDIUM IS THE MESSAGE: Graffiti artist Regimental Oneton at work behind the No Damn Good skate park/shop
Photo by SHARON DAVIES

The ongoing battle between the city and street artists may soon advance to the provincial front.

At an April 4 borough meeting, NDG councillors approved a motion asking Quebec’s government to enact an under-18 spray-can ban, citing graffiti’s “negative impact” on the neighbourhood.

It’s part of Operation Graffiti, a borough-wide initiative. Loyola councillor Susan Clarke heads up the file. “Banning or controlling the sale of spray paint is just one of many measures to deal with the problem,” she says. She claims that the borough spends $600,000 a year cleaning graffiti from public spaces, and that graffiti was one of the “most important” issues she heard about from constituents while campaigning.

Sterling Downey, co-founder of the annual Under Pressure graffiti festival, doesn’t think much of Operation Graffiti, starting with its title. “Wow. Who thought of that name?” Downey wonders. “It sounds like it was created by people who know nothing about the subject.”

Once a vandal, now a graffiti artist, 38-year-old Downey works with city officials and youth to create platforms for dialogue about graffiti. He thinks officials need to consult with the graffiti community before moving ahead with ban. “The public doesn’t realize that the majority of people doing graffiti aren’t minors. How about Operation Intelligence?”

Clarke insists that many minors are active vandals. Downey argues that NDG sends mixed messages by holding legal graffiti workshops while they’re cracking down on vandalism, pointing to an event in Benny Park on Oct. 23, 2010. Clarke defends the workshop’s success, and says the “body language” of some participants led her to believe that they were the same kids doing illegal tagging in the borough.

REPRESSION AND RESISTANCE

Melissa Proietti’s Master’s thesis focused on graffiti as an educational tool for youth. “As far as a ban being an effective method, I believe that attempts to repress people of any age group leads to resistance,” she says. “That’s especially true for adolescents, who are trying to form their identity.” Proietti thinks a spray-paint ban will only provide more of a challenge to teens doing illegal graffiti, increasing its allure and blocking constructive dialogue between young street artists and the community at large.

Graffiti complaints in NDG have grown louder since last summer, when the war memorial in Girouard Park was tagged, drawing the ire of residents. The young tagger was later apprehended by a local veteran, at a (legal) neighbourhood graffiti workshop. Projet Montréal CDN/NDG councillor Peter McQueen, the lone opposition member on council, responded by demanding a spray-paint ban. McQueen calls graffiti a “serious crisis” in NDG.

A spokesperson for Projet confirms that the party is considering a ban, as well as a proposal to charge deposits on spray paint. Unreturned deposits would go into a fund for graffiti clean-up.

For Downey, the suggested ban exposes a fundamental misunderstanding of graffiti culture. He says determined teens will find a way to get their hands on spray cans, regardless of the law. “Last time I checked, you can’t buy cigarettes or alcohol if you’re under 18 either.” He adds that there are plenty of ways to create graffiti without spray paint, and worries that a ban would dis courage younger vandals from becoming legitimate artists when they’re older.

Clarke agrees that Operation Graffiti isn’t the ultimate solution to making graffiti go away, “but it’s one more quiver in the bow, if you will.”

TRAGEDY AND PROGRESS

The proposed ban comes at a hard time for the graffiti community, following a year book-ended by tragedy. In November 2009, 19-year-old Brian Kachur was killed in an alleged tagging dispute (graffiti writers interviewed for this article questioned this account of events), and almost exactly one year later, three teens lost their lives in a VIA train accident while walking on train tracks by the Turcot Yards, a popular spot for graffiti painters. Both the dangers of railways and of graffiti culture in general are mentioned in the Operation Graffiti motion.

Downey thinks the media has sensationalized both events, giving ammunition to graffiti opponents. He was deeply saddened to learn of the VIA deaths, but maintains, “If you ban the sale of spray paint, you’re not going to prevent further accidents.”

Clarke argues that the ban would be a useful tool in the battle against illegal graffiti, and hopes to see progress on the file when she meets Quebec Justice Minister Kathleen Weil (the MNA for NDG) sometime in June.

Proietti is disappointed that the anti-graffiti movement is focusing on negative stereotypes of the culture as a whole. “There are a lot of positive initiatives taking place right now, for change,” she says. “The media could do more to cover this. We do have people who are involved—youth, artists, educators —who are passionate, who care. There’s a lot in our community to be proud of.” ■