Up against the wall

Local residents are jubilant over Marrickville council’s decision to reinstate the graffiti wall at HJ Mahoney Memorial Reserve in Marrickville.

Councillor Peter Olive put forward a motion to see the wall reinstated as a graffiti wall at the council meeting on April 19.

The motion stated simply that the sign prohibiting graffiti on the masonry wall at Mahoney Reserve be removed and that if required a report come to council detailing what else is required to return the

wall to its previous status.

The motion was carried unanimously.

The wall, which local resident Juliet Barr described as an outlet for artists in the area, had been painted a ”boring beige” and zoned  “not for the purpose of graffiti”.

Ms Barr said that locals had taken the wall for granted and only after the sign had been put up did they realise the effect its removal had on the community.

“Young artists used to take their time in broad daylight to create the most ongoing visual feasts of street art you’ve ever seen,” she said. “They would do it in front of the RBT units on the Cooks River Bridge with no repercussions whatsoever. And since the sign had gone up, these same kids were petrified because they thought they’d be arrested.”

Cr Olive said the decision to put the sign up was made to give clarity after police inquired as to whether the wall was an authorised graffiti wall.

Ms Barr said that all residents had wanted was their wall back.

“I’m very happy,” Ms Barr said. “It was a great result for Marrickville as we are a very artistic and vibrant community and I think all the councillors were in touch with the local community about this.

Ms Barr said that her shop, Wildwood designs, gets “tagged” all the time and that she was pro-street art in the appropriate and legal space, not pro-graffiti.

 “Council has a two-pronged approach when it comes to graffiti,” Cr Olive said. “On the one hand we clean it off,  we don’t support the idea of people going around and tagging all over the place but we do recognise that there is a street art component that has some validity and that’s our second prong, exampled by May Lane and council’s approach there.

 “I’ve been contacted by someone who explained that since the sign was put up the graffiti has appeared on buildings all over the place instead of on the wall, so instead of giving graffitists an opportunity to do something on a wall that’s not really of any consequence to anybody it may be a good way of deterring them from doing graffiti on walls where people may complain.”