Cultural Celebration Through Street Art

On your way to Granville Island, your eye might catch a glimpse of three interesting murals. One of them seems to tell a story:  the deep red, white and black colors, oblong shapes and strange letters celebrate the tale of Raven and his efforts to bring light into this world. Looking up the name of the artists and the story behind the commission of this piece you might encounter a very different type of celebration.

 

Mural Under Granville Street Bridge, (Detail).
Taken on the 4/02/12

 

The Graffiti Management Program Web page (2008) states, “Graffiti is often associated with crimes” and proposed numerous solutions to erase the offending tags. However, the story of the mural itself is nowhere to be found and even the name of one of the artist (Corey Bulpitt) seemed to be wrongly acknowledged. When I saw this particular artwork, my interest was sparked and I expected to find a great deal of information about the meaning of the forms and shapes and the idea of mixing tales and a particular medium (street art) in order to make a powerful statement. However, the city of Vancouver website fails in providing interesting comments of this particular piece, involuntarily juxtaposing it with messages qualifying street art as criminal, marginal and potentially dangerous.

 

When reading the web page Beat Nation, Hip Hop as Indigenous Culture, it is explains that Hip Hop culture gives “youth new tools to rediscover First Nations culture” (Alteen) and a sense of empowerment as well as helping raise “awareness through means other than violence” (Willard). Instead of using commissioned pieces as a way to fight unwanted graffiti, the City of Vancouver could celebrate the promotion of art and culture and send a positive message of acceptance and sharing to every citizen.

 

Elsa Chanez

References:

 

Alteen, Glenn. Beat Nation, Hip Hop as Indigenous Culture. Accessed on February,

8th 2012. http://www.beatnation.org/index.html

 

City of Vancouver. Graffiti. Accessed on February,

8th 2012. http://vancouver.ca/engsvcs/streets/graffiti/index.htm

 

Willard, Tania. “Medicine Beats and Ancestral Rhythms”. Beat Nation, Hip Hop as

Indigenous Culture. Accessed on February, 9th 2012. http://www.beatnation.org/curatorial-statements.html