PERTH STREET ART: PTA Vs STREET ART

There’s an age old synergy between train lines and graffiti. After all, the train itself has been a long standing canvas in history of graffiti. Many a times a graffiti artist has jumped the tracks into a trainyard to bomb a train – the penultimate travelling canvas. There’s a whole culture in Melbourne of graffiti artists gathering at Flinders Street Station to watch bombed trains roll-in first thing in the morning. Even here in Perth, catch a train during the day from Perth to any of the satellite hubs and your trip will reveal a host of trackside galleries. The train themselves get scratched up and tagged by marauding gangs, the windows a haze and flurry of ring-pull calligraphy.

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It’s no surprise then that the Perth Transit Authority (PTA) have simply had enough. After all, they spend $2.4 million dollars on removing graffiti every year. Do the math and that’s $6600 per day – for that much you could buy a good genuine Stormie and have made a sound investment! But rather than go completely Operation Coleman on every graf artist from Cockburn to Mandurah. PTA have introduced two campaigns to help tackle the situation.

The first is the Urban Art Project, which is PTA’s way of giving some forms of grafitti the nod. By incorporating the likes of The Graphite Crew, Abnormal Design, Stormie Mills and special guests – such as the UK’s Remi and Timid – Urban Art Project has enlisted the aid of many aspiring young graffiti artists. Under the tutelage of the aforementioned mentors, Urban Art Project has brought spray can art to the Hillman Footbridge in Rockingham, Bull Creek’s underpass, Glendalough’s Bridge Wall, Murdoch Station Bridge, Joondalup Bus Station plus many more. The results can be viewed any time you catch a train from the north all the way to the south (yes, there is life in Mandurah!).

On the flipside, Graffidiot incorporates slogans such ‘the toughest taggers still cry on their first night’ and ‘graffiti can really take you places’, both depicting young men being hauled away, gratuitous bars and dark lighting aplenty. More subtle messages appear on train windows, directly pointing out the damage tagging causes. The campaign aims to hit hard with the message that blatant graffiti won’t be tolerated.

Together, both campaigns are providing emerging street artists with a sound message: that urban self-expression can be beneficial to the community, but not at the cost of millions. As a result, anyone interested in participating with the Urban Art Project is encouraged to contact the PTA via therighttrack@pta.wa.gov.au to be considered for possible placement. But for those who still wish to flaunt the law? Well… even the toughest taggers will apparently cry on their first night.

Scott-Patrick Mitchell