(Photo by Reilly Dixon)
Writing on the wall
- Published: November 4, 2022
After being away for several months in Japan, local artist and muralist Pierre Nagley returned to Yellow Springs this week. Not long after he arrived in town, Nagley got to work on restoring the mural he and collaborator Lindsay Burke painted on the “free wall” in Kieth’s Alley in the summer of 2021. While Nagley was in Japan, a significant amount of graffiti cropped up on his and Burke’s mural.
Nagley spent hours covering up the tags and was able to return the mural to its former glory by the end of Monday, Oct. 31.
Nagley is pictured working to cover up a tag that read “No one is illegal on stolen land.” While he agreed with the sentiment, he still opted to remove it. Nagley did say, however, that he may include a symbolic representation of that message in a future addition to the mural, which already features a panoply of social justice themes.
2 Responses to “Writing on the wall”
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It’s an oxymoron. “Free Wall”?? ‘Tis been occupied for well over a year. Obviously, not free 🙁 any more.
According to Google “Black and Gold – in color symbolism they hint at the unknown, power, and formality alongside abundance, prosperity, and extravagance.”
Tagging probably can be prevented completely even though speculation was murals do deter it on public buildings.
I’m not a big fan of the darkness of this particular mural, as brighter colors speak to me best, but anyone with regard for the time and effort of the work would not and should not have defaced it so. It seems to have evoked anger of persons who might believe that the painfully obvious is perhaps best expressed via more simplistic language or symbols. I actually understand the graffiti. Pain has a way of finding its own voice like that.
“Thank you” for restoring your wok so others may continue to contemplate its deeper meaning. It certainly has drawn renewed attention to your work!
Here is a link to graffiti removal article I found interesting as it also addresses the issue of ‘tagging codes’ and whether all taggers have them or not.
https://www.removemygraffiti.com/post/are-murals-effective-at-preventing-graffiti