Complaint calls about graffiti have tripled in the past year in Barrhaven, which has the potential to not only hurt a business’ appearance-but their wallet as well.
Prior to 2008 there were no graffiti-specific by-laws. There was a change in the regulation to prohibit any business owner to have graffiti on their building. If the owner’s space is vandalized and they fail to pay to remove it, they can be knocked with a fine.
Deborah Landry has studied graffiti in Ottawa for the past five years and is a criminology professor at the University of Ottawa. Landry says Ottawa’s approach is doing more harm than good. She said it does nothing to solve the issue of unauthorized art creation and can be costly to business owners.
Landry said a better solution would be for the city to set aside money for business owners in case they need vandalism removed.
“Looking at other cities and the way they deal with it, and looking at how the city of Ottawa has dealt with it in the past as well, [the best solution] is to set aside money [for the business owners].”
She said the city allegedly spends $3 million on graffiti removal annually, and painting over the area is also much cheaper.
The city of Ottawa set up the Mural Program to encourage legal street-art and reduce vandalism. This program allows artists to participate in large art projects around the city such as painting murals below under-passes.
Landry said she supports the projects that allow others to create on public space, but they do little to help the issue. “There is no evidence to suggest that these programs actually do the things they promise to do…I think it is more of an attempt for the city to try to find some common ground,” said Landry.
Another issue with the city’s street art initiative is the murals don’t allow for text, only pictures. She explained that text is the basis for graffiti and stays true to the hip-hop culture in which it originated.
“They don’t want the aesthetic of graffiti anywhere near that,” said Landry. She explained there are also sometimes issues with bringing artists on board, because the programs don’t want to involve individuals with a history of working with graffiti.
Even when street-art is done illegally, she said the response to remove it is very different between text and pictures. Text is removed much quicker and is seen as more of an issue.
Landry said, “It is classist…and hip-hop graffiti is associated with a particular kind of root and I think that scares certain populations sometimes when they see that kind of artwork, but they don’t mind a mural with an octopus on it, for example.”
Mike Davis is a co-creator of Ottawa Urban Arts, which is a group that paints murals around Ottawa and is in coordination with Ottawa’s street-art initiative.
Prior to forming the group, Davis was a graffiti writer who gravitated towards the medium when he was a teenager because of its power for expression and self-identity. He used to participate in illegal art creation which led to unfortunate consequences like being arrested. When he started Ottawa Urban Arts, he wanted to give back to the community.
As for the issue in Barrhaven, Davis said it could all be because of a small handful of people. “It would probably be more like five people, and they would go out and hit up a whole bunch of spots,” said Davis.
Davis said there are levels of graffiti and street-art, which can range from tags, which is like a signature for that writer, to painted words, or pictures.
He said the city currently has two legal graffiti walls and in his opinion, there are never enough.
Davis believes having more legal wall space available for artists to create can help eliminate illegal art production.
“Maybe Barrhaven could really use a wall right now, you know? That would be a good idea, because these kids are definitely looking for somewhere to paint,” said Davis.
Rob is the manager of The Source in the Chapman Mills complex in Barrhaven. He thinks that graffiti can give a store a negative image, unless it happens to be a visually impressive art piece. If a store is covered in graffiti, “It looks like you don’t maintain your business and that is not the image you want … but if somebody left like, a nice mural, then sure, ya, I’m all for it,” he said.
The issue with the by-law change is that all graffiti must be removed, regardless if the owner likes the look and thinks it adds flare to their establishment.
Davis said it is a very gratifying experience doing art in an accepted atmosphere. “If you can do it legally, it’s a great reward. Communities love murals.”