Taiwan decides graffiti is good as it improves rundown areas
Print Edition
Taiwan’s graffiti artists, once vilified by the authorities and threatened with jail, are now being encouraged to get out their spray cans to revive urban areas.
Rundown districts around the island have become legalized graffiti zones.
But while some artists welcome the chance to show off their skills without repercussions, others say that sticking to areas approved by authorities goes against the spirit of the art form regarded as anti-establishment.
In Taipei’s Ximending shopping district, drab city walls have been brightened with large scale graffiti.
A few blocks away from the area’s main neon-lit hub of chain stores and food vendors, a network of alleyways is home to smaller boutiques and a thriving street culture scene.
The walls of this area have become a legal canvas for graffiti artists, with images ranging from giant snakes to political caricatures.
Jimmy Cheng, 39, a former graffiti artist, manages the zone — artists come to him to show their portfolio before they are allowed to spray on the walls.
“We don’t have any rules, apart from no swear words and no pornography,” says Cheng.
“I think having these kind of areas is definitely a good idea,” he adds.
“On a riverside wall you can spend a day painting, then the next day someone else covers it up. We tell our artists which parts they can paint on. Everybody follows the rules.
“Also we’ve introduced lots of events, like street dance and tattooing as well as graffiti.”
Cheng says before the derelict square was transformed, it was mainly used by the homeless.
Local graffiti artist Bio, 25, sees the area as an opportunity to make a mark on the city without the risk of arrest.
“Graffiti doesn’t always have to be a bad thing,” he says. “It makes a place shine. More and more people come here to take photos.”
The authorities’ new approach is a far cry from the previous zero-tolerance approach which saw one leading political artist, BBrother, prosecuted and given a three to five-year jail sentence in 2006 for illegal graffiti in Taipei.
The lawsuit was dropped after an online petition.
There is no law that specifically targets graffiti, but artists can be jailed for damaging property, although authorities say they rarely impose penalties.
“In the past, government agencies tended to ban and banish graffiti because of public sentiment,” a spokesman for Taiwan’s culture authorities said.
“But it has gradually become part of living spaces as people’s acceptance and knowledge of graffiti art has grown.”
Local officials in southern Taiwan are planning a similar district in Kaohsiung after the successful renovation of a defunct railway repair station.
The city’s Jiuru Street Art Factory became one of Taiwan’s first legalized graffiti areas in 2011 when the railway company gave permission for artists to take over the space.
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