Leave Your Mark

Deep within us all is the innate urge to leave your mark in time and place, and this urge has manifested itself boldly in Melbourne after graffiti hit its streets in the 1980s. Lord Mayor of Melbourne Sally Capp claims “unwanted graffiti is a blight on the city” (Sally Capp, 2021), while at the same time stating, “(they) recognise the importance of street art in contributing to our vibrant urban culture”, (City of Melbourne, 2023). There needs to be more clarity in public opinion around graffiti, and the ones creating the world-renowned landscape of Melbourne live unobserved, rebelling against the system. The graffiti community come from all walks of life and class systems, ranging from middle-aged men to kids in primary school. Graffiti dissolves the boundaries of race and class and is inherently inclusive, with an almost non-existent barrier to entry; exposing their underground sub-culture teaches us the core intent and eliminates society’s preconceived pedestrian perceptions.

Melbourne is justifiably considered a mecca for its street art and world-renowned for its vibrant and evolving urban art scene, yet graffiti writers are labelled as criminals with no motivation other than mindless vandalism and destruction. It’s these same ‘writers’ creating the iconic landscape we now know as Melbourne; the city recognises this importance by commissioning large-scale murals yet negates its origin in the tag. What is certain is graffiti’s importance to Melbourne’s culture, although many corners of society cannot see the connection between murals and tagging. The response to jail someone for wilful destruction is not argued as wrong, but the perceived justifications behind the writers’ actions are. The contradiction between Melbourne’s love for its street art and hatred for tagging reveals a duality within society, which will also be reflected in some writers who question the morality of their artform.

Society is happy to pay for Picasso, who is free to steal images from other heritages, but a graffiti writer cannot go out and put colour on a public blank wall? Where fine art brings one closer to oneself, graffiti allows one to become bigger than oneself. In Leave Your Mark, we let the writers explain why they do graffiti and, in turn, explore the idea of writers as a ritualistic representation of an innate urge to leave a mark.

Access to the graffiti community is uniquely tethered to the Creative Team and not just anyone can make this documentary. James ‘Shorts’ Brett is a long-time member of the graffiti community and is extremely well respected; he is our main ‘in’ to the graffiti sub-culture. James Weatherby, who has a personal connection to Shorts, approached Shorts with the idea of telling the Melbourne graffiti writer’s story on video in early 2022. Most writers require trust to be formed before outright agreeing for them to be a part of this film. Throughout 2022 and 2023, James has done favours for writers such as filming events for them and putting together edits free of charge. We have already begun filming with key characters and have many interviews in fitting locations such as the Whiz FM pirate radio station on Swanston Street, Punt Road locations and many more. Other filmmakers do not have the luxury of this unique trust the Creative Team of this project has.

A change in Melburnians aggressive mentality towards graffiti writers.