Painting the town

 

By Maciejka Gorzelnik

The smell of aerosol paint lingered in the alley between Ouellette Avenue and Pelissier Street Sept. 30 as a group of graffiti artists gathered to make Windsor a more beautiful place.

As a part of Harvesting the FAM Festival, a public graffiti painting display was showcased. According to FAM Fest organizer Murad Erzinclioglu the creation of a “graffiti alley” is a “big city idea” that’s been expanding in Windsor.

“In New York and Toronto there are huge stretches of alleyways where police actually encourage artists to go and paint murals,” said Erzinclioglu. “I think it’s really a public way to share visual arts with the community.”

Ward 4 Coun. Alan Halberstadt has been an advocate of the Wipe Out Graffiti campaign in Windsor since 2010 and said his main objective is to get rid of the vandal component of graffiti.

“I’m more so against graffiti where there is no attempt at being artistic, where the only goal is vandalism,” said Halberstadt. “If it’s done well and done right, it could be a part of the environment and seen as public art. I’m a big proponent of that.”

There is a stigma attached to the word “graffiti” according to Halberstadt. He said he would prefer the umbrella term “art” to let go of the negative connotations.

Sizeo, one of the artists involved in Sunday’s display has been involved with graffiti since 1996. While growing up in Toronto, Sizeo said he would walk by graffiti murals everyday and once he got involved all he wanted to do was paint.

“It’s not about vandalism, it’s about the artists,” he said. “Something like this shows people that graffiti writers aren’t just derelicts running around in the middle of the night out to vandalize.”

A graffiti alley may be a great thing for the downtown core, said Halberstadt. But if you’re going to do it, permission is key.