Vandalism, or an urban "discussion board"?
Photo by Monica Evans

Fed up with people continually painting political slogans on the wall of Valpo’s Windsor School, headmaster Evangelina Julio is turning to the only viable remaining option. Last week she announced that the school will paint its own “street art” in the space.

Subida Concepción, the pedestrian passageway where the private high school is located, has long been a favorite spot for those keen to scrawl their opinions and show off their artwork on building walls. The passageway links Cerro Concepción to the city center.

And the high-school does not escape the attacks of the spray-cans. “In March, in what was for us a big effort economically, we painted the school,” Julio told local paper La Estrella. “However, within days graffiti and stencils in defense of lesbians, Mapuche prisoners, people who disappeared in the dictatorship and gays began appearing.”

The slogan that appeared this week reads, “Homosexuality is not a fashion. We are just tired of hiding ourselves. Gay Liberty!”

Said Julio, “Personally, I support freedom of  expression and I know that young people have a need to make their opinions heard... but we are making a big effort to keep the high-school in good condition and we don’t deserve this.”

The only part of the school’s street exterior that has remained free of graffiti is a wall bearing its own mural. “Strangely, that mural has always been respected by young taggers, so we have decided to paint a mural on the other walls to solve the conflict once and for all,” the headmaster said.

Graffiti culture arrived hand-in-hand with hip hop in Chile in the late 1980s, and became an important form of expression during the politically repressive era. Now, an ever-evolving skin of stencils, murals and commentaries smothers Valpo’s streets and stairways.

While some see it as “visual vandalism,” many Valparaísians praise the phenomenon. Rodrigo Aranda, writer for a Web site called ValpoGrafico.cl, sees it as “a democratic and generous manifestation of art, available to be enjoyed by whoever wants to enjoy it, sometimes communicating a message, sometimes just improving the view in a dirty staircase smelling of urine.” Others simply welcome the distraction of a pretty painting or interesting statement as they trudge up one of the citys interminable staircases.

Appreciating that street walls often turn into “discussion boards,” where someone paints a statement and people passing in the following days paint responses, Julio says the school is considering leaving spaces for such discussion within the new mural itself – “so that the young people can discuss things in a more ordered way.” Whether this opportunity will be taken up by Valpo’s street philosophers remains to be seen.

SOURCE: LA ESTRELLA DE VALPARAÍSO

By Monica Evans (monica.evansAThotmail.com)