These pictures were taken a few days after the Stanley Cup Riots in 2011. In wake of the riots, people gathered outside Vancouver City Centre station and expressed their sentiments by writing in chalk on the pavement. This ‘organized’ form of graffiti was favourably received by the general public present on Granville street. No one scowled or complained that public property was being defaced or that the people gathered there were being a nuisance. The messages themselves centered around the ‘true culture and spirit’ of Vancouver and seemed to be an effort to make up for the events that transpired after the Stanley Cup finals. They also appeared to be a healing process for those viewing the chalk graffiti as well as those drawing it.

Observing the scene the day these pictures were taken, there was a sense of redemption that was trying to be achieved through the graffiti. Vancouver also has a program called, “Restart.” This program aims to take youth involved in graffiti vandalism and make them use their talent towards creating authorized murals (The News Beat). The traditional messages conveyed through graffiti are of territorial marking, artistic expression, political statements et cetera. However, these examples illustrate a somewhat therapeutic or restorative nature of graffiti which is unusual to see in this particular medium. I deduce from the positive reactions that people (viewing as well as participating) have to these works that there is value in the notion that graffiti can be restorative (Koon-Hwee Kan 20).

Works Cited:

Koon-Hwee Kan. Art Education , Vol. 54, No. 1, Focus on Secondary (Jan., 2001), pp. 18-23. National Art Education Association. Web.
http://www.jstor.org/stable/3193889

The News Beat. Vancouver: British-Columbia. Grandview-Woodland Community Policing Centre, Winter 2009. Web.
http://www.gwcpc.ca/documents/NewsBeat_Feb2009.pdf

Veera Bhinder