Graffiti in a Time of Covid-19: Spray Paint and the Law

Abstract

During the course of 2020 there have been plenty of restrictions on human rights, but there has also been what might be described as ‘artistic anarchy’. Particularly in the period of March–June 2020 when the UK was in ‘lockdown’, streets became awash with diverse rainbows, teddy bears, ribbons, and graffiti. For ten weeks through the summer of 2020, Thursdays at 8pm became a riotous mix of doorstep clapping, pot bashing, bells, pipes, horns and fireworks. No longer antisocial behaviour, or nuisance, but a community celebration of, and thanksgiving to, all key workers. Small acts of solidarity in a time of national crisis, perhaps, but also a stark U-turn in what is usually deemed acceptable societal behaviour. Graffiti artists played a part. Pieces by Banksy, Rebel Bear, less well-known, and anonymous artists have been lauded by the media and some reports have described such work as ‘murals’ rather than graffiti, thereby conferring a degree of artistic respectability, on what might otherwise be damned as vandalism. The change of perspective was illustrated by the upset caused when routine graffiti cleaning on London underground inadvertently removed a new Banksy. While some of this—as with pre-pandemic graffiti—is in ‘legal spaces’ set aside for graffiti across the country, or commissioned work, much of the graffiti on COVID-19 is in public places, on