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Alternative sidewalk art provokes vandalism
Image drawn in chalk defaced, accompanied by damning grafitti
By Geof Wollerman
gwollerm@mscd.edu

Photo by Jenn LeBlanc • jkerriga@mscd.edu Manea von Griffyn creates a vibrant work of chalk art Oct. 11 on the pavement at the center of campus for National Coming Out Day. She said she was pulled in to chalk art by chance and now is addicted, appreciating the immediate interaction it creates with viewers. The NCOD Celebration was organized by Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender Student Services.

Chalk art celebrating National Coming Out Day was defaced with black spray paint on the evening of Oct. 12 near the campus quad flagpole.

The picture was sponsored by the Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender Student Services and depicted two women holding a child. Below it was written, “Love makes a family.”

On the morning of Oct. 13, a facilities department worker discovered the women’s faces had been partially smeared and “this sort of love will take u to hell” had been spray painted across the bottom of the picture. The word “hell” was underlined twice.

“She came to the office with a really pained look on her face and said, ‘I’m sorry to tell you this, but someone vandalized your artwork,’” said the picture’s artist, Manea von Griffyn.

According to Auraria police officer Jason Skeen, the vandalism took place sometime between 6 and 9 p.m. on Oct. 12.

“The security guard saw (the picture) around six o’clock, (the graffiti) wasn’t there. He came back around nine and there it was.”

Skeen said there were currently no suspects or witnesses, but that there were a lot of people in the area at the time and hopefully someone will come forward with information about the incident.

Because the graffiti uses the word “hell,” whoever wrote it was probably religious, von Griffyn said.

“They would have to be what I would deem fundamentally Christian,” she said.

Von Griffyn considers the graffiti to be hate speech.

“Oh, very much so,” she said.

Officer Skeen said until police can determine another motive, the graffiti would be considered defacement of public property rather than any type of hate speech. In order for the Auraria police to consider something hate speech it has to be directed toward a specific group of people.

“We wanted good, positive imagery for people to look at and enjoy,” von Griffyn said. “So we thought that an image of a family would be something that everyone could relate to, and that’s why our office chose this particular picture.”

She said the picture wasn’t intended to be sexual in nature, but more about showing a loving family.

“There’s more to the issue than just sex.”

According to the Auraria Police crime log, this is only the second recorded graffiti incident on campus in 2006. The other took place on July 19 at the playing fields.

Because spray paint requires chemical solvents to remove it and chalk is water-soluble, the art was washed away in the process of removing the graffiti.