The walk from the centre of campus to the North end, towards Winters or Tatum residence, is probably one of the nicest. Most often surrounded by a canopy of tall trees, birds chirping and people enjoying the outdoors, far enough away from the hustle and bustle. However, on a night out to the Ab, the scenery completely changes. Once you walk underneath the stairs to Winters College, it’s a concrete heaven. There is wall to wall doodles, installation art, and hung artworks done by students. I walk through this interesting collection of expression every day to get breakfast lunch or dinner. Living in Winters residence, it is the quickest spot to get food during any time of the day. Once you walk down those steps, you feel like you're walking into a completely different place. There is almost a type of alleyway that leads out into a beautiful courtyard that is practically never used, surrounded by cherry trees which blossom pink in the spring, and vines which crawl up the bleak brick walls. However, the first thing you notice when you enter this space is the smell of old cigarettes. It is a hot spot of smokers from the Ab. They walk out there to have a mid-night smoke due to the lack of access to the bar’s patio and the fact it’s well lit. It is almost like a hidden urban space in the centre of one of the greenest populated area on campus, making people feel as if they've stepped into a whole different place.

I chose one piece in specific due to the fact that it is less of a doodle and more veered towards “hip hop graffiti” which was well introduced to me in the article by McAuliffe and Iveson and the fact that is considered to most and represented in the majority of studies as the “traditional” graffiti. When people think of graffiti, this is mainly what they think of, but what really struck me as interesting was the fact that it was placed on a small circle, detached from the wall. This to me almost symbolizes it’s permanency as a piece, but that can become permanent, where ever you put it. A main aspect in graffiti or street art is the fact that it is permanent and is made to mark a political, environmental, social or artistic message or statement. This graffiti is placed above some sort of installation or sculpture piece (that I have yet to determine its subject…). One could argue that it was produced as an art piece to go along with the sculpture, was allowed to be placed there or could even be considered a type of “legal wall”, which wouldn't categorize it with the type of graffiti that we are looking at. Others could argue that it was put there, potentially illegally, to spark people to follow and create their own graffiti/art around it; which clearly was the case in my opinion.

Graffiti has always seemed to have a link with crime or it being illegal. In McAullife and Iveson’s article, they go on to explain whether or not graffiti is truly illegal. I certainly agree with their arguments that indicate that it could essentially be both illegal AND art. Different things are beautiful to different people, so trying to categorize something as art is hard. Trying to determine if it is illegal or not is just as hard. When it comes to the graffiti I chose, I believe it could be categorized as legal, due to the fact that no one has erased or removed them, perhaps because it is located near Winters residence and counsel (the art sector of York), however, I believe it could be considered illegal as well. This is because it isn’t supposed to be there, no one asked for people to draw, paint or write anything on these walls, except perhaps the paintings hung up on the wall and maybe the sculpture. People often have the tendency to leave up graffiti due to their pure enjoyment or laziness. In this particular case, I believe it is an equal mix of both. If we look at the article from Fusion magazine written by Rueda, we can see that once you allow graffiti and street art, it ends up looking beautiful. I don’t think these chalk drawings and scribbles on the walls are necessarily beautiful, but I believe it encourages the art students (or any who would like) to express themselves freely, to create something that could end up transforming this dingy, cigarette smelling place, into something inviting. Clearly in Bogota, not everything that is painted is allowed. People still do get fined and some do get covered up, but the message is still there. Allow freedom of expression and you might be surprised with the end result. Hopefully, I’m not simply being an optimist and this is truly how the people in charge of this space and the ones in charge of graffiti on campus feel.

If you walk down under those stairs on a bright, sunny day, the space is illuminated and the alley leading to the courtyard is lit from the other side. There usually is never anyone there so, I sometimes just go there whenever I’m stressed or just need a breather from my stuffy dorm room. The opposite is true at night. Yes, I stated before that it was well lit, therefore, trying not to be scary at night, but I still feel incredibly intimidated walking through there, alone or through a crowd of drunk smokers. I understand that they tried to make it feel safer but the atmosphere from the Ab, the scribbles on the walls/graffiti, the dark area where the graffiti that I chose is located, equals a very stressful environment (for me). Others might find this comforting, maybe a smoker, among other smokers for example. I’m not too sure the exact reasoning for the stress I feel while walking through this place that ironically brings me such calm during the day, but my best guess would be the combination of graffiti, a dark space, and (drunk) strangers, equals something bad, or scary, and to avoid at all cost. Perhaps it is true, and more so at York, especially after you read the article from a couple weeks back, written by Laidlaw. Being scared is a good thing because it makes you more aware of your surroundings, but I also feel like I shouldn't be scared of a place that I visit so often. We have talked at length about this subject in lecture, and I still can not find a way to truly eliminate this fear. Maybe enforcing the laws against graffiti…