The city of Burlington is situated on the shores of Lake Ontario and located between Toronto and Niagara Falls. On the surface, it is a small polished city populated by about 175,779 people. In a 2011 census, minors (individuals under the age of 18) made up 24.5% of the population (almost identical to the national average of 24.4%), and pensioners (age 65+) numbered 15.4% (significantly higher than the national average 13.7%). This older population was also reflected in Burlington's average age of 40.3, which was higher than the Canadian average of 39.5 (statcan.ca). There is not much graffiti to be seen in the city of Burlington. However, this is only if you are not looking for it.
Burlington has been recognized by Toronto-based MoneySense Magazine many years in a row with a Top 10 placing on its annual list of best cities in Canada. It is a wonderful place to start and family and grow old but what about the ages in between. The youth and young adults have a nickname for the city… Borington. If you are not a young child or of legal age to enjoy the downtown drinking activities, leisure activity options are quite minimal. In personal experience, groups of friends would spend weekend nights at the bowling alley or movie theatre then resort to wandering around and lingering in parks and the closest take out restaurant or Tim Hortons. Many of these buildings have back alley ways and fenced in areas that often back onto the railway tracks that run through the centre of the city. These darker, shabby unpolished areas is where graffiti can be found.
The piece of graffiti that will be focussed on is found behind one of these late night hangout spots, a local Wendy's back parking lot. This franchise also happens to back onto the railway tracks and is located beside a run down auto shop that closes quite early on the weekends. This graffiti has been spray painted onto a white, unhitched cargo truck container that has been pushed up against the wall of the auto shop and is partly covered by a chain link fence. This cargo truck container blocks entry to the fenced in back lot area of the shop that contains broken down cars and scrap metal. The graffiti seems to be a tag or words of some kind that was drawn in purple spray paint. It has been partially covered by what seems to be white paint but it has been unsuccessfully covered up.
This tagging makes the area look less safe. It gives the impression that no one cares about the surrounding area and that it is easily accessible for illegal activities. In general, the back area is a little rough around the edges but with the removal of some of the rusted fences and with an update of the pavement, the area would be much more welcoming. With the run down feeling and look of the parking lot the graffiti just seems to make it worse than it actually is. During the day the space is somewhat more welcoming but is still is not somewhere that a person would stay and feel comfortable for extended periods of time. That specific Wendy's location is open past midnight but only the drive through window. This could be for loitering reasons, the franchise does not want youth hanging around the restaurant late at night. At night the area is much less comfortable and welcoming compared to the day time. There are over head lights in the parking lot but the few placed at the back that are beside the railway tracks have either burnt out or the bulbs have been broken. With only part of the parking lot lit it feels somewhat unsafe, especially when there are holes in the chain link fence that block of the tracks. There is not a clear boundary between the public and the private. Even though the space is a public restaurant parking lot, the graffiti gives the space a more private feeling, like there is a certain group of people who loiter or hang out there on a regular basis.
In class (October 28) there was a class discussion about whether there is a clear line between art and graffiti. Some of the discussion points brought up were: if it enhances the space or makes you question then it is art, it depends on who views it and what the content of the graffiti actually conveys. In this specific case, in my personal opinion, no this graffiti is not art. It appears to be quickly done and for not apparent reason or purpose. This graffiti in no way beautifies the area or makes it more aesthetically pleasing. The back parking lot of this Wendy's is not all that pretty to look at to begin with but with the added graffiti, it makes the area look even more run down and uncared for. The place looks even more unsettled.
Since Burlington is a cleaner, friendly city graffiti is not a welcome sight. In the McAuliffe and Iveson reading a section speaks of how graffiti hotlines "…have been set up encouraging citizens to report graffiti, and private contractors are increasingly engaged in ‘rapid removal’ efforts to clean reported graffiti within hours of its appearance." There is something along these lines in the city of Burlington but instead of a specific hotline there is a branch of City Hall that deals with graffiti and vandalism clean up. As seen in the image of the graffiti in question, the clean up is not always successful; paints runs or fades, tags are redone, the surface does not clean well.
Graffiti sightings in Burlington are far and few between. These illegal markings and inscriptions are not seem on the forefront, they are on the other side. The youth and young adults of the city have found something to pass their time with, in places where they can congregate. Once one tag is spotted, you know another is close by.
*panorama included because video has glitches
Citation
statcan.ca. December 2010. "Community Profiles from the 2006 Census, Statistics Canada - Census Subdivision".
Class Discussion: Wednesday October 28,2015
McAuliffe, Cameron, and Kurt Iveson. 2011. “Art and Crime (and Other Things Besides … ): Conceptualising Graffiti in the City” Geography Compass 5(3): 128–43. https://moodle.yorku.ca/moodle/pluginfile.php/1458044/mod_resource/content/1/j.1749-8198.2011.00414.x.pdf
Hey!
I love that you started this post by giving some background on the city. It made it easier for me understand the rarity of graffiti. When I first started working on graffiti, I worried that I wouldn't find any in my area.
In your post, I feel you touched on some really important points. Graffiti in a back alley can make the space less inviting and make it feel unsafe. And, you're totally right! Although it's a public space, because that graffiti is representative of only that one group you said hangs out there, it does make it a more private space. I mean, I feel like you and your friends couldn't decide to hang out there spontaneously one night, if that's "their" space. Right?
The photos were taken from quite a distance but what does the graffiti say? Does the wording itself affect the space?
Anyway, thanks for the post!
Great post! I think it's very interesting that you emphasized on Burlington being an area where there aren't many spaces for young people. "Loitering" is very common for young people, as there are limited areas where young people are allowed and welcome. Like you mentioned in your post, companies (such as Wendy's) try to prevent young people from being in a space for too long by taking measures such as only having the drive through open past midnight. If there weren't so many limits and rules as to where young people are allowed to be, do you think the graffiti situation would be any different? Do you think the lack of care for the area (rusted fences, poor lighting etc.) has anything to do with the type of people imagined to be hanging out in the area?
Thanks for sharing!
Another great example of how a space shapes or reinforces the attitudes to how well people will abide by the law. The norm for Burlington is to have a neat and clean presentation, and then there's this questionable location within where people can and do vandalize the property. Perhaps the isolated nature of it explains why it hasn't fully been removed? It's as though the graffiti is a symbol of leisure around that area, a code for the people that congregate there. So while there may be a sense of aversion for the average Joe who prefers a cleaner view, the people that do hang out there might actually associate this particular area with some kind of meaning!
anneshas, thanks for the comment! Personally I have no idea what this piece of graffiti says! It appears to be a tag of some sort with some distorted block/bubble letter text beside it. Around Burlington there are a few areas that have similar tags/writing so they could possibly have been done by the same group or person. Considering the text is basically unreadable it adds to the private feeling of the space.
sabeeha, thanks for the comment! I think if there were more places in the city that welcomed youth and gave them a place to go and hangout there would be less graffiti. A lot of buildings in the city tend to make the front of the stores appealing and nice looking while the back parking lots get less care. The buildings want to be perceived in a good way but when you walk around back you can tell the differences. I don't think this is done on purpose. No business owner really wants a 'bad crowd' hanging out in behind their building but the atmosphere simply gives that effect.
nushmeen, thanks for the comment! I completely agree with you. The fact that this area is more isolated could indeed be the reason it has not been removed. This graffiti is basically hidden in the back area instead of out in the open. It doesn't appear to cause any issues so it has not taken down. The fact that there are other tags like this one around Burlington could mean that people hang out there and might actually associate this particular area with some kind of meaning.
Great post! I agree with your observations that young people in that area are tagging spots that seem to be isolated from the public eye. On another note, the line between art or graffiti differs according to how other percieve the case.