Across The Tracks and Through The Looking Glass

Here’s a graffiti piece I did in 2003 when there used to be a half-decent skate park at Bishops Stortford. It made for a refreshing contrast to the clone-town it was rapidly becoming, full to bursting with coffee bars and mobile phone chains, just like everywhere else. Folk of all ages including the elderly and families who found themselves walking through the parks pleasant grounds would sit and enjoy the free spectacle of people painting graffiti and skating on fine days. All graffiti art at the park was respected and any good pieces stayed clean and untagged for years.

There used to be a mini ‘hall-of-fame’ down there with good graffiti art on as many as seven walls by both local and London artists including myself Ashe and Evade but the council ripped down all the 8 foot high, art covered skate-ramps and installed ridiculous 3 foot high concrete ‘skate-bumps’ with no vertical surfaces, thus making the park unsuitable for graffiti art and of limited interest to most older skaters.

They also replaced the adjacent basketball wall illustrated below with a tubular metal frame with a hoop, effectively ‘cleansing’ all graffiti art from the skate park, hence the town in one quick and convenient operation.

The stoners, jugglers and dreadlocked mellow types who used to harmlessly congregate there to skate the ramps, enjoy the vibe and play their guitars in the sun instantly moved on never to return, as the town council no doubt hoped they would. However all is far from rosy for these well meaning do-gooders.

Upon cleansing the place of the younger generations culture its’ atmosphere changed immediately, the new council-friendly ‘skate-bumps’ were covered in abusive and obscene graffiti overnight, something which was never a problem before.

Now I hear the place is controlled by gangs of aggressive ‘townies’ who filled the vacuum and find the new low ‘skate-humps’ perfect as benches where they can get drunk, light fires, smash bottles and start fights, things which also were never a problem before.

The elderly and families who used to sit down to watch the fun on fine days do so at their peril now!

Is there a lesson here somewhere?

Finished outline on tracing paper

 

Half finished wall

 Finished piece

And close up….