Porto repaints its walls

Censure. The city paints over its graffiti. Artists denounce an infringement of freedom of expression.

Already a month that Porto is making life difficult for the street arts. The anti-graffiti brigades of Portugal's second largest city are tracking down the slightest trace of graffiti. And the government's recent intervention is the ultimate offence: after a work by Hazul Luzah, a local street art figure, was erased without warning on 21 May, relations between artists and citizens have become strained. The conflict was conducted in front of the media and the city council. Since then, the tension has been so palpable that the debate was raised in the Council of Ministers, which voted a bill. Street art is described as follows: "Vandalism in public spaces, disrespect for heritage and private property are recognised as factors contributing to the insecurity of the population."

The "vandal" artist is liable to a fine of between 100 and 25,000 euros. "A bill like this is ridiculous," said Miguel Januário, a visual artist from the Porto fine arts centre. It is true that the management between artistic freedom and urban planning has raised socio-political questions since the fall of the dictatorship in 1974, when the street became a place of expression again. Porto is therefore better known for its azulejos (decorative art composed of blue earthenware tiles) than for its arty catalogue. More than elsewhere in the country, alternative cultures suffer there. "Porto has always lacked spaces dedicated to street arts and graffiti. We should have places where people can express themselves, the inhabitants would appreciate it. But the city seems to have other projects, it erases everything, even though the works are very elaborate," says the protean artist Nuno "Doc" Costah. The city council has already spent 150,000 euros on this major clean-up and pugnacious says it will "continue its relentless fight against graffiti in public spaces". It even praises a recent action carried out between 28 June and 3 July by its brigades in several streets in the centre.

"The municipality has no doubt sinned a bit in its communication but, after all, artists can't hope to repaint the whole city. The Porto Lazer collective, which is responsible for the city's cultural activities, says the pressure seems to be gradually easing off. Just the day before yesterday, Hazul Luzah, who has become the new protégé of the northern capital, inaugurated an exhibition in the historic centre... 500 metres from the walls recently covered in "Rui Rio yellow", named after the mayor who is leading the response.

"They say they're fighting visual pollution, but they're lumping it all together. Porto lacks street artists, because the city does nothing to give them a voice," says Luzah, "The reality is that no one has ever been allowed to paint anywhere," says Costah. Today, anyone who is not knighted automatically receives a fine. It's about time the authorities understood that a white city is an empty city. It's thanks to the murals that we know more about our history." Convinced of their legitimacy, in Oporto and elsewhere, many artists defend freedom of expression, at the risk of painting a deleted work the next day. "We're doing more and more political and critical graffiti," says

.

But it's become a vicious circle. The artists paint, the authorities cover up, the artists repaint, the authorities rerecover. As a result, we no longer take the risk of taking the time to apply ourselves." Now, in the streets, over the "Rui Rio yellow", we sometimes read this tag: "Muros brancos, povo mudo" ("White walls, mute people"), a slogan dear to street artists.