Several weeks ago, I wrote about graffiti in a transitional area of Vancouver, Gastown/ Chinatown, and what a symbol of subversion like graffiti is coming to mean in a space that is facing intense gentrification. In this post, I will focus on where my blog left off – in the face of commercialization in the DTES, what has been the reaction of graffiti artists? Two blogs by my fellow classmates explore two symbols of subculture that still exist in the East side of Vancouver – the “East Van” graffiti tag turned public art piece, and the “Free Marc Emery” stencils – that have become symbols of East Vancouver.
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| The "East Van" Sign Photo Credit: Denise Lee From Anth 378 |
Denise Lee, author of the blog Anth 378, discusses the iconic “East Van” tag that has been a symbol of East Van for years, appearing as far back as the 1960s. Recently, the iconic symbol was turned into a public art piece, a light-up sign visible from the Skytrain when passing through the East side (Lee 2011). The symbol is of a cross, with the word “East” running horizontally, and the word “Van” running vertically. Inspired by the original graffiti tag, Lee sees a tension between the original meaning of the East Van community symbol and the now “artistic” and literally glowing art piece by Ken Lum: “There are other double meanings, like in the poor/rich divide in social class: the graffiti symbol had beginnings in defiance born from adversity, while the LED sign was erected for a program and Games instigated by the rich. It may be illegal to vandalize a wall with the symbol, but it’s encouraged to appreciate, contemplate and interpret this sign if it’s public art.” (Lee 2011)
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| Free Marc Emery Graffiti Stencil From: My-diation |
Katrina Schulz also wrote on her blog My-diation about an instance of a commonly occurring piece of subversive graffiti in the DTES, the “Free Marc Emery” stencils that have been appearing on the sides of buildings in the Downtown and East Side Areas (Schulz 2011). Having worked on a shop on Hastings St. before, I noticed these stencils mostly within a certain radius of the iconic Vancouver marijuana subculture hang-out, the New Amsterdam Café, who are at the centre of the Vancouver campaign. However, despite the subversive nature of the stencils, Schulz recognizes some irony when she found the “Free Marc Emery” website, as the group had specific instructions on how and where to approach painting the graffiti stencils, and found it “…was not the creation of an inspired and angry individual, but the result of what might in fact be called a ‘marketing campaign’.” (Schulz 2011) What Schulz finds to be the strangest thing about the “Free Marc” campaign is it’s seemingly unaware acceptance of consumer values when approaching a subversive activity, particularly it’s “75 Fun Things You Can Do To Help Free March” list. Schulz believes that the list “… assesses these different ‘forms of protest’ on ‘risk’, ‘effectiveness’ and ‘cost’ – the group operates within the realm of today’s consumer culture and lets itself be guided by economic considerations.” (Schulz 2011)
The common issue presented by both Lee and Schulz is the tendency for subculture to become popular culture. There is something about graffiti as a deviant action that is undeniably “cool.” Except as graffiti becomes more popular and begins to be seen as an art form, the less legitimacy it has as a form of protest. Sarah Thornton writes that “the idea that authentic culture is somehow outside media and commerce is a resilient one. In its full-blown romantic form, the belief suggests that grassroots cultures resist and struggle with a colonizing mass-mediated corporate world.” (Thornton 2006: 116) However, Thornton also believes that, realistically, subculture is being sucked into popular media, not just by “the man” but to an extent, willingly Subculture uses the frame of media just as much as much as pop culture does (Thornton 2006: 118). The line between was is mass mediated and what is subversive becomes thin in a world where flashing signs and mass produced stencils represent Vancouver’s subculture, and world renowned graffiti artist Banksy has an online gift shop.
Citations
Lee, Denise
2011 The East Van Sign: Graffiti and Public Art in Creating an Imagined Community. http://deniseleesblog.tumblr.com/post/3291014858/the-east-van-sign-graffiti-and-public-art-in-creating, Accessed March 28, 2011
Schulz, Katrina
2011 The Insurrection of Signs? Graffiti, Marc Emery and The Culture of the (Non-)Deviant. http://my-diation.blogspot.com/2011/02/insurrection-of-signs-graffiti-marc.html, Accessed March 28, 2011
Thornton, Sarah
2006 The Underground versus the Overexposed. In Club cultures: Music, Media and Subcultural Capital. Middletown: Wesleyan University Press
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