Roots of Graffiti looks at the big picture

Photo by Allison Staton

NDG Arts Week has always had a strong commitment to highlighting the impressive track record of street art in the neighbourhood, and this year’s no different. Tonight, Monday Aug. 20, the festival has slated an event profiling graffiti’s genesis, local impact and philosophical meaning.

Exploring the Roots of Graffiti opens with a screening of Style Wars, Tony Silver and Henry Chalfant’s classic 1982 documentary capturing the birth of the graffiti movement. The film follows young wild stylers through NYC trainyards, abandoned buildings and warehouse parties as they morph the look of the whole city, one tag at a time. Backed by a non-stop old school soundtrack, it excellently captures the thrill and spirit of the moment, as well as showcasing the economic and social origins that pushed writers to risk life, limb and jail time to get up.

Organizers hope to use the film to stage an open public discussion about graffiti, its origins and its place in city life. Moderator Fiona Keats says she wants the documentary to act as “a springboard to explore the primordial human impulses being expressed through the graffiti movement,” so that attendees can consider the phenomenon through a “mythological lens.”

Following the discussion, Keats will present some of her own research and thoughts on street art, as well as showing her collection of some 600 photos of Montreal graffiti and street art taken since April of this year. The pictures capture what she calls the “zeitgeist of graffiti this summer,” profiling some of the city’s most talented and prolific outdoor painters. ■

Exploring the Roots of Graffiti, Coop la Maison Verte (5785 Sherbrooke W.), 7 p.m.