Murals and messages: bylaw puts damper on art and aspirations

You are here: Home | News | Murals and messages: bylaw puts damper on art and aspirations

Posted on August 18, 2011  /  70 Comments

Large graffiti murals have sprung up around Cape Town over the past few years, especially in impoverished areas where these bold public art works beautify bleak surroundings and often carry a powerful social message. Leanne Farish and photographer Jac Kritzinger hit the streets to investigate the positive impact graffiti art can have on communities and how the City of Cape Town’s bylaw — aimed at clamping down on vandalism — is making it harder for credible artists to beautify the city and bring art onto the street

It’s just a short, 15-minute drive from Cape Town city centre, but Philippi could just as well be on another planet. Crumbling buildings, informal structures and dilapidated council houses are patched up with corrugated iron and bits of wood. Hobbled ponies graze beside the road and small fires burn in drums outside homes. Litter and rubble are strewn everywhere. All in all, not a pretty sight.

But in a rundown smallholding on the corner of Schaapkraal and Olieboom Road, something is different. Colour blooms on the walls. A cluster of children and two women sit nearby and watch intently as two people brandishing spray cans bring a vibrant and striking image to life.

“We’ve sort of adopted this village,” says Falko, one of the artists painting the wall. He’s among the best-known and most respected graffiti artists in Cape Town. Along with Nard, who’s also a full-time graffiti artist, Falko plans to spend the next month covering the walls of the smallholding with colourful murals. Although both artists make a living out of graffiti, this project hasn’t been commissioned — they’re painting out of their own pockets.

Urban beautification

The investment of time and money into the beautification of their area isn’t something that Cape Flats residents experience often. Without even the basics of electricity or running water, Willemse and her family are used to going without. “The people whose houses we are painting — they are so proud of it,” says Falko. “It’s such a community thing.”

The connection between urban beautification through street art and its positive effects on a community has been made before. “One of the main benefits of public art is that it’s a strong catalyst of social cohesion,” says Ismail Farouk of the African Centre for Cities at the University of Cape Town. “Where a space was previously neglected, now people will look at that and feel proud and happy.”

Farouk explains that for an artwork to really instil a sense of pride in a community there needs to be community involvement and engagement. “Finding ways of involving communities in the artwork would actually help foster that sense of ownership in the artwork,” he explains. At the very least, Farouk says, this should involve going out and consulting the people, respecting their wishes and gaining their trust and permission.

According to the artists, this kind of interaction with the community is one of the most rewarding parts of their work.

“Graffiti and the culture surrounding it was the initial attraction to street art for me,” says Ricky Gordon, a well-known South African street artist who works extensively on community based projects, “but it has since evolved into a greater appreciation of the impact we as artists can have on the communities we work in.” When creating murals, Gordon gets all residents of that area involved in the planning and conceptualising of the mural and, based on this interaction, a public art work is created — one which the residents feel ownership for.

“It’s not always just the mural, it’s the engaging of the people in the areas you’re painting in,” says Mak1one, another of Cape Town’s most successful graffiti artists.

Controversial bylaw

However, according to the City of Cape Town, what Falko and Nard are doing in the impoverished area of Philippi is illegal. A controversial graffiti bylaw, in effect for a year now, states that painting murals on property without a permit obtained from the City is illegal — even if it’s private property and the artist has obtained permission from the owner.

Designed to clamp down on graffiti, the stringent — some say draconian — law makes it illegal to paint or write anything besides a street number on any piece of property — public or private — that is visible from a public space, unless authorised by the City. The penalty for a first-time offender is a R15 000 fine or three months’ imprisonment.

Graffiti, especially “tagging” — the signature-like form of graffiti — is regarded as a public nuisance by the City. But, says City of Cape Town Safety and Security official, Anton Visser, the bylaw does make a distinction between graffiti vandalism and artworks. “It targets vandalism, not murals,” he says.

Visser explains the City’s rationale behind the clampdown on graffiti: “What happens is disorder creates disorder. Where graffiti is rampant, it invites other forms of disorder. It attracts certain elements and sends a message that it’s okay to do whatever you want there, you then have people urinating there and so on. It culminates in crime.”

He maintains that the bylaw makes provision for murals and other artworks by stating that such artworks are permitted as long as the artist obtains authorisation from the City first. This involves submitting an application in writing, including sketches of the proposed artwork and proof of permissions from the property owner, surrounding residents and any other interested and affected parties.

But many graffiti artists say the bureaucratic process is throttling their right to freedom of speech and stifling their artistic expression.

Nick Herbert is one of the owners of Shelflife, a streetwear store that is also the only supplier of spray paint especially for graffiti art in Cape Town. A graffiti artist himself, he’s been involved in the South African graffiti scene for 12 years. Herbert is among those staunchly opposed to the bylaw. “It is a huge block to our freedom of speech,” he stresses. “The City passed it [the bylaw] so that you need permission to do anything. So even if you’re a shop owner and you want to change the front of your shop and paint your own building, you have to go through the council, which can take up to 60 days.”

And, far from clamping down on the “nuisance” of illegal graffiti that vandalises public property, many artists say the bylaw only has a negative impact on serious artists wanting to express their art form and beautify the city via commissioned murals and community-produced art.

“The bylaw only affects the artists who do it legally, so in that way it defeats the object,” argues Nard.

Herbert explains: “The people who are doing graffiti illegally — the tagging and that stuff — that will continue because the law hasn’t got much stricter, it’s just got more defined. But now the daytime stuff, when you get permission [from the owner] and spend hours on walls, and you spend money and actually put some time into it, all of that’s being eradicated.”

Platform for protest

Graffiti and street art have always been a form of free public expression — art by the people for the people — and a platform for protest. “There’s something about public art that’s quite spontaneous at the centre, which is its power. And its power is about expression in public space, whether that be about social issues or something else,” says Farouk.

“I think art is really important, and it’s got a huge responsibility and an important role in all communities,” agrees Mak1one. “I come from the Cape Flats. Graffiti helped me uplift myself. Which is important — you have to uplift yourself before you can help other people.”

Black Koki, another renowned South African street artist whose work is sought after overseas, weighs in on the debate: “Street art can be done for various reasons ranging from getting a message to the public to challenging a certain subject or can be purely decorative.”

Mak1one is now a full-time graffiti artist who has also travelled overseas to contribute to global street art projects. He describes his own attitude shift from the self-serving practice of painting one’s name in as many places as possible to a focus on putting back into the community by providing art where it is desperately lacking. “That’s what I love, that’s what feeds me: to paint more positive, influential, positive, beautiful murals,” he says. “If you’ve got something beautiful in your area, it’s what you want. And that’s what artwork should be, it should be encouraging you to try and follow a dream you wanted to do, something you always wanted to become.”

Back in Philippi, a young boy shyly approaches Falko and holds up a pencil sketch of his own version of the bird mural newly sprayed on the wall. He’s been sitting quietly, watching, drawing, maybe even dreaming. Can graffiti really do a community any good? Just ask the people. © The Big Issue South Africa