Jack Evans, political animal and focus of this week’s cover story, has wedged himself into the Leisure section via the passage of the “Anti-Graffiti Amendment Act,” which he introduced to the City Council in 1997. In response to the resulting criminalization of graffiti, a piece of graffiti art (seen right) was commissioned at 3320 P Street. The piece, a form of political art, sticks out in the quaint upscale neighborhood we know as Georgetown.
A poster to the side of the piece with the heading “THE ART” reads:
“The piece is a tribute to Washington DC a capital city of witch we are justly proud. The artist is known as R.T. whose work hangs in Boston and Las Vegas as well as Washington D.C. this piece is intended as an artistic bridge between 3316 p and 3322 p. Earl Alexander ‘Ruty” Powell III, Director of the National Gallery of Art lives next door at 3322 p. More murals in Georgetown. Oriental fisherman in high wave Chigal Mural. We hope you enjoy this.”
The accompanying poster, labeled “THE LAW” in big block letters, challenges Evans’ bill, denouncing it as “censorship” and continues:
“Art should not be held a prisoner of politics. Jack has never herd of Keith Harring. He is not aware of the numerous graphic designers who got their start as graffiti artists. He is more determined to be mayor than to encourage the full free human expression through art. REPENT JACK!”
The agenda here is clear; it declares strong opposition to the council members’ decision to pass Evans’ Anti-Graffiti legislation. The bill makes the act of graffiti and the sale of graffiti materials to minors a crime, holds parents accountable for graffiti by their children and allows police officers to make a warrantless arrest if the officer has probable cause to believe that the person has committed an act of graffiti.
The question this seemingly out-of-place P Street art site dares us to ask: How can graffiti, one of the most significant art-forms of the twentieth century, be considered a crime? By citing Keith Harring as an example, this installation reminds viewers that some very important artists like Jean-Michel Basquiat started out tagging in back alleys and subway stops. These artists recognized the potential of the medium in an increasingly urbanized society. Decades later, people everywhere have recognized and embraced their contribution in taking art and culture into a city setting. They took what usually belongs in museums and made it more accessible to the public. Jack Evans, in his legislation, has effectively taken steps to reverse that process. Although his act is no doubt aimed at more adverse illustrations, his banning of all forms of graffiti, specifically in areas that do not experience gang violence or tagging, limits freedom of speech and expression.
But all the while, graffiti in the district continues to appear without any noticeable police interference. In fact, since Oct. 1999, D.C. has been one of the major urban centers of the “No More Prisons” Sidewalk Graffiti Campaign. Claiming to be the first ever nation-wide political graffiti crusade, this movement, using the “No More Prisons” slogan, is so pervasive that it’s hard not to notice. It functions as an effort to raise public awareness about a larger movement targetted at the Prison Industrial Complex, a term used for the exponential growth of the U.S. prison system with the last 20 years.
These three explosive words are showing up all over the country: in Washington D.C., from Howard University’s campus to trendy DuPont circle; from New York’s Lower East Side to the sidewalks of Cleveland, Chicago, Vancouver, and Minneapolis. In some Latino areas, the graffiti even reads “No Mas Prisones.” Artists have made this inescapable message a part of the landscape that can reach those who otherwise wouldn’t care.
Most of the graffiti was actually done by one man, William Upski Wimsatt, who now lives in D.C. Best known for his self-published book Bomb the Suburbs, an underground success in the hip-hop community, this 28 year-old’s most recent book is entitled No More Prisons.
The canvassing is a clever marketing strategy for his book. Moreover, just like Harring and Basquiat, Upski does something bigger; he makes culture accessible to the public. But instead of bringing art to the masses, Upski is bringing politics??so that you can’t miss it. And he’s doing it against the wishes of councilmen like Jack Evans.
Like the creators of the P St. installation, Upski sees anti-graffiti legislation as harmful to society. “Writing on the sidewalk isn’t wrong. It’s freedom of speech. It doesn’t hurt anyone and it doesn’t even damage property because it rubs off after a few months.”
So we find ourselves again at the original question: What is so criminal about graffiti? Not only does it bring art into the city and to the people, but it brings politics as well.
