Last week, somebody (from the city?) came to the tunnel under Bloor Street East at the Glen Street footbridge and grey-washed everything – the legit murals, the illegit murals, the stencils and tags on top of both. I thought to myself: what a waste of public money; I bet tags start showing up in hours. Sure enough, the next day the first tags appeared. And then, on Saturday morning, it’s as if the graffiti army showed up: kids (am I showing my age?) lined up on either side of the tunnel, traffic cones at either end of the tunnel, ladders, boxes of spraypaint, and a guy with a clipboard doling out paint and telling people where to go.
This is #wallnoize7, part of a cooperative venture between the established graffiti community and the City of Toronto. The idea is that if the city puts up kitschy murals, graffiti artists are going to spray over them. I mean, why not? Instead, give the graffiti community “ownership” of the spaces where city-sponsored murals used to insult our eyes.
It sounds like part of the deal is that the graffiti community polices vandalism from the attention-seeking kids who tag murals and ruin other people’s work.
Reactions to my presence were varied. No one was hostile to the camera. Graffiti is ephemeral so everyone who does it wants it documented. Some ignored me. Some were wary of me capturing their faces so tied their T-shirts around their heads. Others were happy to smile for the camera.
#wallnoize8 is a bigger project that runs from May 15-24 – the south side of the Bloor West Go Rail underpass.
