
Of course, the main catalyst for graffiti making the news—certainly in the UK, at least—is when famed street artist Banksy decides he needs to alert the world to something, like Palestine or consumerism.This week, a new Banksy piece focusing on immigration appeared in Clacton-on-Sea, a town in Tendring, Essex, where the anti-immigrant UK Independence Party is set to win a local election in a landslide. The artwork—which depicts a load of pigeons telling a colorful bird to “go back to Africa”—was swiftly removed amid complaints of racism from people who somehow didn't realize the stencil was an explicit statement against racism.None of this is particularly remarkable; certain people are easily offended and local governments regularly scrub graffiti off walls. What was kind of surprising was the statement Tendring District Cuncil released when they realized they’d just obliterated something that could have potentially made them a lot of money: "We would obviously welcome an appropriate Banksy original on any of our seafronts and would be delighted if he returned in the future."This reasoning didn’t make much sense to me; I was always raised to believe that graffiti was illegal. I called the police to check my parents hadn’t been lying to me, and they stressed that graffiti is a council matter rather than one for the force. However, environmental law states that graffiti “is an act of criminal damage under the Criminal Damage Act 1971, and those found guilty can be punished with a maximum fine of £5,000 [about $8,000]."
Advertisement

Advertisement
Advertisement

Advertisement
