[Dryerase] The Alarm!--Graffiti as social resistance

[The Alarm!Newswire]

Graffiti as social resistance/reclaiming public space

By durt
The Alarm! Newspaper Contributor

Possibly the first time I ever went out spraypainting was when I was in 
high school in San Francisco when I was 15. A few friends and I went 
out to Ocean Beach at three in the morning or some such crazy hour. 
This was before the huge wall separating the street and the sand got 
painted over and there still was artwork and scrawlings from the 
80s—and even some from the 70s—all up and down the beach. I don’t even 
remember what kind of paint or even what color it was, but I do 
remember the excitement and rush I got when I painted the first durt 
monster on the concrete wall. As far as graffiti art pieces go, it was 
messy and simplistic. It was a very clear moment for me, when I felt 
like a part of the long history of graffiti as an artform, and felt 
happy to be doing something a little bit different as a white queer 
gurl from the city. At the time, I had also just self-published my 
first zine called durt that had a lot of poetry and art from my 
friends. Graffiti became a way for me to advertise for it. This was the 
beginning of my participation in The Lost Tribe and Super Froot as a 
crew of kids (mostly punks), and the beginning of my passion for street 
art and graffiti as an artistic and political movement.

In San Francisco, I spent quite a bit of time running around the city 
making art wherever and whenever I could. Today, I spend less time at 
it, but that’s mostly because I don’t have my crew down here with me. I 
know of a few graffiti writers in Santa Cruz (like Ideal and gerl), but 
other than that, I’ve been pretty cut off from other artists. I think 
this isolation has to do with the stigma around graffiti. No one really 
wants to speak out as graff artists because of the law. Ever since 
Proposition 21—California legislation that targeted youth by 
incarcerating them earlier and more often, and by allowing cops to do 
more surveillance on anyone suspected of being in a “gang”—was passed 
there have been increasing crackdowns on graffiti. In Santa Cruz there 
has been a fuss over strengthening the Graffiti Enforcement Team that 
investigates graffiti cases and teaches TAG (Talking About Graffiti) 
classes for cited “vandals” and their parents. There have been 
suggestions that Santa Cruz should model its enforcement on San Jose’s 
method: first time offenders do 66 hours for a Weekend Paint Program, 
second time offenders do 132, third time is a felony, with additional 
penalties: fines, suspension of licenses and house arrest with an ankle 
monitor somewhere along the way. Somehow I’ve managed to skirt the 
cops, and whenever I get a chance I like drawing on the sidewalks of 
this town.

Graffiti art is like most other art forms in terms of its messages, 
both personal and political. However, there is an element to graffiti 
wherein it is ultimately political because it is illegal. Graffiti has 
gotten a bad name. Many people think of it as defacement of property. 
Even more people probably object to graffiti on private property. 
Graffiti has gotten a bad name for other reasons as well, mostly 
because of territorial disputes and mopetitiion between crews and 
individual artists. The general public sees graffiti and thinks 
“gangs.” I know that there is violence surrounding graffiti in some 
situations. But for me, graffiti is not about violence. It is about 
freedom of expression, and, if anything, is a release of emotion, truth 
and reality. I’m not interested in competing with anyone. I’m all about 
appreciating the beauty of other people’s art and writing as much as 
possible myself.

Inspiration and Beautification
I like to paint with spray cans, but I also like making stickers, 
stencils, using pens and shoe polish. In San Francisco, I pretty much 
like all the stuff my friends do: icide, special, eyesoar, disease. I 
also really like Superstar and Heart 101’s artwork. A lot of great art 
is in the Mission in San Francisco, including in the Pond Gallery and 
Mission Badlands/Balazo Gallery on 24th and Mission Streets.

For me, guerrilla art/graffiti art has been an essential part of my 
life. When I see graffiti art that is beautiful and has a distinctive 
political/personal message, then my creative energy is restored. Mostly 
I think graffiti needs to encourage positive action and connection to 
community. I love seeing statements that keep me going and keep me 
excited about humanity. Like when you see a sticker and realize that 
someone else in the world/community actually cares! I think graffiti is 
a way for me to express feelings about humanity and political issues, 
and be able to reach a large audience. I hope to be able to reach 
people I wouldn’t usually get to talk to about issues of war, sexism or 
fatphobia.

Being a gurl artist seems to complicate matters. Most of the graffiti 
artists I know are guys. I know there are a ton of women street artists 
out there. Let’s form a crew. Going out by yourself is a great way to 
prove you’re tough, but I’m more interested in having a good time with 
artists and friends. For me, there’s no need to prove myself as an 
artist. My style comes from a place of not really caring what other 
folks think of me. I don’t know sometimes if I can really call myself a 
graffiti artist because my style is pretty sloppy and unskilled. I just 
like drawing messy monsters and happy creatures all over the place. I 
also like drawing hearts with anarchy signs in them and writing things 
like “no f**king war” and “riots not diets.” I’m not really trying to 
be skilled at it, I’m just putting my own form of kind of simplistic 
expression into the world to try and make some people smile.

I might even want to organize doing a mural somewhere in Santa Cruz 
legitimately (legally), like the artwork at the Teen Center and Motion 
Pacific by Elijah. A long term goal I have is to get as many gurls, 
trans folk and feminists as possible to get together and take over the 
boring grey freeway underpasses, telephone polls—anywhere there is 
public, blank, sterile concrete—and transform them into artistic 
expressions of resistance and revolutionary joy.

“Why do you do graffiti?”
Its fun. I meet interesting people. It’s pretty liberating to be able 
to make a statement and beautify the place where you live. I always try 
to encourage people to express themselves artistically and some people 
don’t have access to art school. So why not paint beautiful murals and 
add some color to the concrete streets? I’m very much a fan of the Do 
It Yourself (DIY) ethic. That’s why I think you don’t need a lot of 
fancy art supplies or canvases to do art. That’s why I make zines and 
encourage any form of public/free art, spoken word and art that reaches 
out into the community where you live and inspires those around you. 
Graffiti, billboard modification and wheat-pasting are all great ways 
to get messages across. I hope more people will realize that it’s a 
form of art and expression that shouldn’t be criminalized but rather 
encouraged. Take a hint from groups like Precita Eyes in SF, where the 
art of youth is validated and taken seriously. Provide spaces for youth 
to display their talents and know that we’re not going to stop 
beautifying the world we live in.

For more info  on other organizations and groups see: www.artcrimes.com 
(HUGE source of graffiti art and links online), www.culturecache.com 
(net gallery for emerging artists), www.mucketymuck.org (Pond Gallery 
in SF), www.precitaeyes.org (Precita Eyes Mural Arts Center in SF), 
www.corporateswine.net (Coporate Swine)

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