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Graffiti in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, is a cause of much disagreement among its residents. Graffiti is seen by some as an art form adding to the Toronto culture; [1] however, others see graffiti as form of vandalism, viewing it as ugly, or as a form of property damage.
Graffiti was well established in downtown Toronto by the early 1980s. [2] By the mid-1990s, many graffiti pieces and tags were observable in various alleyways and other outdoor areas around the city. (A book collection of some of those works, titled “Tags & Pieces”, was published in 1997 [3] ). One blogger remarked that pieces on Toronto buildings, walls and overpasses embrace the culture of New York City. [4]
In September 2019, graffiti art on 26 garage doors near Ossington Street and Queen Street West were accidentally painted over black. [5] Weeks later, graffiti artists were invited to restore the street art. [6]
There has been a debate regarding the issue of graffiti in Toronto as to whether or not graffiti constitutes art or vandalism, with former Mayor Rob Ford vowing to remove all graffiti from the City of Toronto, [7] defining graffiti as "One or more letters, symbols, figures, etching, scratches, inscriptions, stains, or other markings that disfigure or deface a structure or thing, howsoever made or otherwise affixed on the structure or thing, but, for greater certainty, does not include an art mural" [8] and defines an art mural as a "mural for a designated surface and location that has been deliberately implemented for the purpose of beautifying the specific location." Mural work also serves as a platform to create and link communities, document history and tradition, and to facilitate purpose and voice to its collaborators. Mural painting is not simply about making something visually appealing; the majority of active mural artists create work that captures the human experience and transforms intangible words and emotion to something that can be seen and touched.
Graffiti is managed through a coordinating body established under the municipal government of Toronto's Graffiti Management Plan. The body provides support and municipal recognition for legitimate instances of graffiti, although also provides support, and enforcement against illegal instances of graffiti. By-laws governing legitimate and illegitimate instances of graffiti are found in the City of Toronto Municipal Code. [9]
There are many coalitions that have been created to deter and remove graffiti in Toronto. These organizations or groups agree that graffiti has many negative effects on the city. The official website for the City of Toronto has stated that graffiti can promote a belief that community laws protecting property can be disregarded and that graffiti creates a sense of disrespect for property that may result in an increase of crime. [10]
The "Graffiti Transformation Program" is an annual community investment program which hires youth to remove graffiti and resurface the walls with attractive murals. Since the program's start in 1996, over 9,000 tags have been removed, over 300 sites cleaned, and 430 murals created. The program has provided jobs, training, and skills to approximately 1,276 youth. [11]
The Toronto Police Services have also undertaken the "Graffiti Eradication Program" which is defined as "a service-wide initiative focusing on the reduction of crime, fear, and disorder as it relates to graffiti." [12]
The Council of the City of Toronto has adopted a graffiti bylaw in 2005 (revised in 2011) that lists definitions, prohibitions, and the cost of the offence. [13] "Graffiti art" and "graffiti vandalism" are distinguished. Individuals and businesses under this bylaw must remove graffiti vandalism on their property at their own expense or else the city will remove the graffiti for them and send the bill. Graffiti allowed by municipal permits is called "graffiti art". Graffiti art does not need to be removed. [14]
A public effort that legitimized the use of graffiti was established by the Queen Street West Business Improvement Association (BIA) for the area colloquially known as Graffiti Alley (originally Rush Lane). [16] Chair of the BIA, Spencer Sutherland, initiated this movement to protect property owners who did not wish to remove the graffiti street art and were being ticketed. The BIA claimed that the area was culturally significant, citing Rick Mercer's use of the laneway, between Queen Street and Richmond Street, from Spadina Avenue to Portland Street, [17] during his "Rick’s Rants" monologue on his CBC Television shows, notably The Rick Mercer Report, [18] [19] and argued that it is a popular destination for photography and draws urban tourists to the area on a daily basis.
The entire laneway south of Queen St West from John Street to Bathurst Street was officially designated as an area of municipal significance in the Graffiti Management Plan adopted by Toronto City Council on July 12, 2011. In September 2015, Vogue Magazine cited Queen West as the second coolest neighbourhood in the world, crediting the area's trendsetting "street style" to Graffiti Alley. The Queen St West BIA and local tour company Tour Guys host walking tours through Graffiti Alley for visitors to experience and learn about graffiti street art. [20] [21] [22] [23] The Laneway Project and Queen Street West BIA host a party in Graffiti Alley called Layers of Rush Lane: A Party in Graffiti Alley. [24] [25] The Press Pause [26] artist collective is recognized as contributors to Rush Lane. [27] [28] [29] [30] [31] [32] [33] Style In Progress, a graffiti and hip hop event, takes place at Yonge–Dundas Square and in Rush Lane. [34] [35]
In an attempt by the City of Toronto to clean up graffiti while not differentiating between art and vandalism, many graffiti artists or "writers" are only identifiable by their signatures in order to remain anonymous. [36] Serious and experienced writers follow unwritten rules amongst each other in order to maintain a hierarchy of respect within the community. [37]
The StART Program maintains a directory of street artists and writers based/from Toronto, or have graffiti in Toronto. The registry has grown to approximately 200 entries as of April 2019. [38] Artists and writers that have a background in graffiti that is registered in the StART program include ARTCHILD, Getso, Jessey Pacho, Li-Hill, MEDIAH, Nando Zevê, Peru 143, Shalak Attack, shayne rivet, SPH, Style Over Status, and Takeo Ten. [38]
The "Rant" segment of CBC Television's Rick Mercer Report featured comedian Rick Mercer walking along the graffiti-covered alleys of Queen Street West, in which he discussed his personal views on contemporary Canadian politics. This segment was originally on another CBC Television show This Hour Has 22 Minutes before Rick Mercer Report was spun off.
In 2019, the bar Graffiti Spot was opened in Richmond Hill, a municipality situated north of Toronto, with the aim to promote art by local graffiti writers. [39]
Graffiti is writing or drawings made on a wall or other surface, usually without permission and within public view. Graffiti ranges from simple written "monikers" to elaborate wall paintings, and has existed since ancient times, with examples dating back to ancient Egypt, ancient Greece, and the Roman Empire.
An alley or alleyway is a narrow lane, path, or passageway, often reserved for pedestrians, which usually runs between, behind, or within buildings in the older parts of towns and cities. It is also a rear access or service road, or a path, walk, or avenue in a park or garden.
A street artist is a person who makes art in public places. Street artists include portrait artists, caricaturists, graffiti artists, muralists and people making crafts. Street artists can also refer to street performers such as musicians, acrobats, jugglers, living statues, and street theatre performers. Street artists can be seen throughout the world.
Coxwell is a subway station on the Line 2 Bloor–Danforth in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The station is located on Strathmore Boulevard just east of Coxwell Avenue and one block north of Danforth Avenue. It opened in 1966 as part of the original segment of the Bloor–Danforth line. Automatic sliding doors, accessible fare gates and the addition of elevators made the station fully accessible in late December 2017.
Street art is visual art created in public locations for public visibility. It has been associated with the terms "independent art", "post-graffiti", "neo-graffiti" and guerrilla art.
Centre Place is a laneway and pedestrian precinct in Melbourne, Australia. It runs north from Flinders Lane to Collins Street, between Elizabeth Street and Swanston Street.
Degraves Street is a pedestrian precinct and thoroughfare in the Melbourne central business district in Victoria, Australia. It is a short, narrow laneway that runs north–south from Flinders Street to Flinders Lane and is situated in-between Swanston and Elizabeth streets. Degraves, as the street is colloquially known, is famous for its alfresco dining options and because it epitomises Melbourne's coffee culture and street art scene. For these reasons it has also become a popular tourist destination.
Melbourne, the capital of Victoria and the second largest city in Australia, has gained international acclaim for its diverse range of street art and associated subcultures. Throughout the 1970s and 1980s, much of the city's disaffected youth were influenced by the graffiti of New York City, which subsequently became popular in Melbourne's inner suburbs, and along suburban railway and tram lines.
Hosier Lane is a laneway in the central business district (CBD) of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. Located on the CBD's southern edge, it extends between Flinders Street and Flinders Lane, and opens opposite the Atrium at Federation Square. Since the late 1990s, Hosier Lane has become a popular tourist attraction due to its street art. Despite popular belief, Hosier Lane is not a legal wall, and graffiti in the area is illegal.
Little Portugal is a neighbourhood and ethnic enclave in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is located west of downtown in the "Old" City of Toronto. It is bound on the west by Lansdowne Avenue, on the north by College Street, on the east by Ossington Avenue and on the south by the Go Transit and Union Pearson Express railway tracks. The area is mainly residential, with Portuguese businesses along Dundas Street West and College Street. The area west of Dufferin Street was a part of the former Town of Brockton. The area to the east of Dufferin and south of Dundas Street is also known as "Beaconsfield Village" dating back to the days of the sub-division of lots in the area around Beaconsfield Avenue.
Caledonian Lane is a street in the Melbourne central business district. It is a short, quiet and narrow open laneway, running between Little Bourke and Lonsdale streets. The alley has been a street artists’ favourite for years and is often referred to as the 'gaming laneway' hosting various gaming murals.
Graffiti are writing or drawings scribbled, scratched, or sprayed illicitly on a wall or other surface in a public place. Graffiti ranges from simple written words to elaborate wall paintings. Graffiti, consisting of the defacement of public spaces and buildings, remains a nuisance issue for cities.
The Melbourne central business district in Australia is home to numerous lanes and arcades. Often called "laneways", these narrow streets and pedestrian paths date mostly from the Victorian era, and are a popular cultural attraction for their cafes, bars and street art.
Rick Mercer Report is a Canadian television comedy series which aired on CBC Television from 2004 to 2018. Launched as Rick Mercer's Monday Report, or simply Monday Report, by comedian Rick Mercer, the weekly half-hour show combined news parody, sketch comedy, visits to interesting places across Canada, and satirical editorials, often involving Canadian politics. The show's format was similar in some respects to satirical news shows like Mercer's prior series, This Hour Has 22 Minutes.
Reggae Lane is a roadway in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, that runs east from Oakwood Avenue, behind a strip of buildings on the south side of Eglinton Avenue in the Little Jamaica ethnic enclave. For most of its history it had no official name, but the imminent arrival of Oakwood LRT station helped trigger its 2015 official naming.
Facter, or Fletcher Anderson, is a Melbourne based, Australian multi-disciplinary artist, best known for his colorful creatures rendered in a illustrative style.
Well Hung Lover, also called Naked Man Hanging From Window and simply Naked Man, is a mural by the anonymous street artist Banksy, on a wall in Frogmore Street, Bristol, England.
Graffiti Alley, officially Rush Lane, is a three-block, 1-km alleyway in Toronto's Fashion District, known for hosting street art. Lonely Planet has called the site "possibly the most popular place to check out street art in Toronto". The alleyway was used prominently as the backdrop in Rick Mercer Report's "Rant" segment. Despite its popularity with tourists and leniancy by law enforcement, it is not a legal wall.
Legal walls or open walls, are public spaces where graffiti is allowed by any member of the public.
It encompasses three city blocks and includes the contiguous alleyway of Rush Lane
It was on Graffiti, on the lane where Rick Mercer does his Rants
Toronto takes pride in its street art, here showcased in Graffiti Alley
Elicser and his buddy Mediah are hanging out behind Danforth Collegiate, watching as about 20 masked teens pull out spray cans and start painting..."We're promoting doing it legally," says Mediah, a member of Press Pause, the Toronto arts collective that ran the event. "We don't condone vandalism."
All artwork and images © copyright 2005 PPC.HUG, Toronto. Photos thanks to Mediah.Press Pause.HUG crew.
...a phenomenal opportunity for artists like Trust and the Press Pause collective to exhibit recent pieces inspired by their street art. The remarkable diversity and talent displayed here proves them to be artists in every sense of the word, far surpassing the scribbled mess often associated with the mainstream understanding of graffiti.
Lease is a graduate of the Sheridan College Photography program, best known as a co-founder, curator, and organizer of the late, great, Press Pause Collective, and for her highly refined stencil work and commercial photography. Merging traditional and digital processes, she has used her photographic and design background to become Toronto's reigning 'Stencil Queen.' ...Housepaint at the Institute for Contemporary Culture (ICC) at the ROM is the first exhibition of street art in a major Canadian museum, an open-ended exhibition and experiment.
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