The Oracle

Issue date: 11/11/08 Section: Entertainment

Media Credit: Bryn Harding This graffitied wal is in an alleyway in eastern Minneapolis. Sometimes graffiti is incorporated leagally into a city's landscape, but often it is considered vandalism if the tagger does not have permission.

Senator Norm Coleman, along with three other Minnesota politicians, suffered property damage at the hands of vandals about three weeks ago. This politically-motivated vandalism called for the senator's resignation. Collectively, the media labeled the act as "graffiti."

While the term may not appear to be controversial, artists that link themselves to graffiti culture would disagree with its use in the media.

"It's just boiling my blood," Stefano Bloch said.

Bloch is a Ph.D. student specializing in the aesthetic and spatial policies of urban graffiti at the University of Minnesota. To him, "graffiti" is more than just a word to be tossed around without definition. Graffiti to him was more about reclaiming public domain.

"Because my voice can't always be heard, I'm attributing to the aesthetic by painting on public space," Bloch said.

Other public spaces around the community have also been taken back for aesthetic purposes. Road murals can be seen at various intersections surrounding campus as part of Paint the Pavement, organized by the Hamline-Midway Coalition.

Jun-Li Wang, community organizer for the Hamline-Midway Coalition, said Paint the Pavement involves neighbors in the area in a large scale mural painting process on low-traffic intersections. She said altering the spaces was more about community growth than anything else.

"It's about community building [and] reclaiming public space for people instead of cars," she said.

Despite the purpose of the project, Wang said that the Paint the Pavement movement was not graffiti, mostly because they had permission from the city to work on projects.

"Part of the graffiti culture is the illegality," Wang said. "It's part of the attraction."

Officer Mike Barabas of the Saint Paul Police Department also said he believed the attraction of graffiti culture is partly the rivalry involved between writers.

Continued...

Page 1 of 2 next >

Article Tools