JANUARY 2010
ALMOST THERE
In December of 2010 I was invited to a Council by-law hearing to present alternative ideas and offer insight into graffiti art to help the council create a more fair alternative,I created a sideshow presentation exposing them to mural art from around the world and also showed them how other cities are dealing with this popular culture art form,mnostly i showed them how absurd there thinking has been ,various ideas were discussed and the council have agreed to redraft the by-law,exactly how is still to be seen as the draft will be issued to the public at the end of January.
The draft will then need to go through the public participation process again,so if its not what it could be or should be then we will continue our campaign.
SEPTEMBER 2009
THE LATEST DEVELOPMENT:
We have handed in our submission and look forward to a positive result:.
Including in our proposal was the petition signed by over 2000 people,
Endorsements and letters of support from:
Design Indaba-Ravi Naidoo
VANSA-Peter Hayes
FXI-Freedom of Expression Institute
Creative Cape Town-Zayd Minty
Heart -Peter Shrimpton
Human Rights Media Centre.
The public participation process is now closed.
Article By Anel Lewis
Metro Writer
Despite an online petition signed by more than 2 000 graffiti artists and others against the City of Cape Town’s controversial final draft graffiti by-law, only about 80 concerns were submitted to the council by Monday, the deadline for public comment.
The city’s proposed draft by-law defined graffiti “anywhere within its area of jurisdiction” as a public nuisance, sparking outrage from mural artists who said that their creativity would be curtailed by the new regulations.
Anyone caught defacing property with graffiti could face fines of up to R20 000.
But Anton Visser, manager of strategic and operational support in the city’s safety and security directorate said the draft by-law would be amended to include a clear distinction between graffiti that was vandalism and public art.
Visser said the longest two submissions, from the Human Rights Commission and the Freedom of Expression Institute, were about the draft by-law’s ambiguous definition of graffiti.
“We are not going to clamp down on public art.”
This assurance from the city should appease the 2 399 signatories of an online petition against the by-law. The petition complained the proposed by-law criminalized all forms of public art and violated the freedom of expression on private property.
They argued that the definition of graffiti, which classified it as any inscription, word, figure, letter, sign, symbol, sketch or drawing, was too broad.
Interview With Ricky Lee Gordon
Founder of Write on Africa.
Story by: Simon Taylor
Click Video to play and load:
JULY 2009:
GRAFFITI BYE LAW THREATENS OUR FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION:
We are facing a new anti-graffiti by-law in Cape Town which takes away the house owners rights to give permission for any artworks on their walls besides a house number.
The new, proposed graffiti by-law makes no distinction between vandalism and public art that is done with the permission of the owner of the property.
Below are the details of the two points in the by-law that we would like to amend.
To: The City of Cape Town
The new, proposed graffiti by-law criminalizes all forms of public art and violates our personal right to freedom of expression on private property.
It makes no distinction between vandalism and public art that is done with the permission of the owner of the property.
The by-law will soon be presented for public discussion and these are the two main issues that we feel need to be addressed:
The definition of ‘graffiti’ under the by-law is too broad. It classifies ‘graffiti’ as any inscription, word, figure, letter, sign, symbol, sketch, picture or drawing. There should be a clear differentiation between ‘graffiti vandalism’ [e.g. gang tags, scratchings] and public art that is done with permission from the owner [murals, colourful characters and positive, inspiring messages].
The by- law removes the legal right of the private property owner to paint anything other than a house number on his/her wall. We strongly believe that the private property owner should maintain the right to determine what to paint on to his/her property without permission from the City.
We urge the city to amend this by-law to become a more inclusive one and thus limit the damage it can potentially do to the creative growth of our city.
In Chapter 2- Bill of rights section 16 Freedom of expression it states
1. Everyone has the right to freedom of expression, which includes
a. freedom of the press and other media;
b. freedom to recieve or impart information or ideas;
c. freedom of artistic creativity; and
d. academic freedom and fredom of scientific research.
source.
http://www info.gov.za
For any further information, please contact:
Write On Africa
Please support our petition to amend the Graffiti By-Law.
Follow this link:
http://www.PetitionOnline.com/art4all/petition.html
Click on the below link to view the proposed by law.
CITY OF CAPE TOWN
GRAFFITI BY-LAW
Read more:
http://www.capetown.gov.za/en/Pages/Cityplansspecialunittocontrolgraffiti.aspx
