‘Graffiti takes its own space’

The politics of graffiti and street art are often described in binary terms: criminalization of graffiti enhances its oppositional potential; its legalization destroys its counter hegemonic essence. In order to add nuance to this binary understanding of street art and graffiti, we examine the complex responses of street artists and graffiti writers to Decreto 75 (‘Decree 75’), an ordinance deployed by the mayoral administration of Gustavo Petro between 2011 and 2015 to formally regulate street art and graffiti writing in Bogotá, Colombia. In contradiction to previous policies that criminalized this subculture, this new legal framework promoted so called ‘responsible and artistic’ graffiti and street art, in part to support the ideology and political priorities of the Petro administration via muralist tropes long common in the Latin American city. We also examine the heterogeneous reactions of artists to this more permissible governance approach, drawing on interviews, photography, and active participation in the street art community in Bogotá. Since most research examining graffiti as a mode of contestation has been conducted in cities where street art and graffiti writing is criminalized, the case of Bogotá illuminates the implications of decriminalization strategies for the politics, practices, and meanings of contemporary graffiti and street art.