A campaign to remove visual litter

Canton Green Party works with community to prevent graffiti

Another day, another tag (photo by Nigel Pugh)

A subcontractor will remove graffiti later this week from a mail box in Radnor Road after Canton Green Party sent a request to Royal Mail, but this is only a small part of their campaign.

“The point is I’m clearing it up in poignant places that are setting up a bad precedence, such as around schools,” said Nigel Pugh, council candidate for the Canton Green Party.

“If you remove the pieces, graffiti arts groups like Peaceful Progress or Cruel Vapours can do murals in high-graffiti areas.

“To stop it being a cyclic issue, these groups can visit schools to do community based projects, to instil that there’s a right time and place to do it, but it’s all about procuring permission. It’s a preventative measure.”

Nigel Pugh maintains a regularly updated Flickr page which he describes as recording every piece of graffiti, then recording every process of getting rid of it. It includes an example of provocative artwork on a wall opposite Radnor Road Primary School.

Nigel defined visual litter as, “If you have a lot of litter on the floor, people stop perceiving it, and don’t mind adding to it. It’s like having white noise – eventually you don’t hear it, but it’s still there.”

He also mentioned the importance of Cruel Vapours, a Cardiff based graffiti art collective established in 1999.

“Local business owners give me permission to paint their shop front,” said Bradley Woods, one of the founders of Cruel Vapours.

“This benefits us both, as it gives me and other artists a platform to display artwork, and it helps eradicate the unsightly vandalism that their bare walls are a target for.

“I teach in many schools and youth centres throughout South Wales. I am employed by local authorities to undertake these youth workshops. During our workshop sessions we look into the history of graffiti art, worldwide graffiti art today and most importantly the difference between graffiti art and graffiti vandalism.”

More information on Cruel Vapours can be found at their website.

Canton Green Party, Cruel Vapours, graffiti, litter, Nigel Pugh