The divide between politics and graffiti art was recently bridged in Tainan after a Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) legislative candidate asked upcoming graffiti artist Hsiao Chiang-li (蕭強立) to decorate her campaign headquarters.
Hsiao, although just 25, already has a degree of fame in Tainan along with fellow graffiti artists, including Chu Chung-hsien (朱仲賢) and Liao Chih-hao (廖至豪).
Hsiao and others usually create their art on abandoned or vacant houses, but the management team of a Jhongsi District (中西) night market allowed them to use some buildings in its area.
Photo: Huang Wen-huang, Taipei Times
Then DPP candidate Chen Ting-fei (陳亭妃) leased the site for her campaign headquarters.
“We were afraid of being evicted by Chen after they made the announcement [of the campaign headquarters location],” Hsiao said.
However, the artists were pleasantly surprised when Chen expressed support for their works and asked them to stay.
“Tainan could be considered the cradle that nurtured a rekindled interest in graffiti art that is slowly occurring nationwide,” Hsiao said. “However, the social conservatism in Tainan means that graffiti art is actually less accepted than in Taipei or Taichung.”
Compared with those two special municipalities, Tainan lacks a specific area for graffiti artists to practice and display their art, Hsiao said, adding that most were forced to look for sites not in public areas.
“We are thankful that Chen is willing to provide a location for us to continue to practice our art, and we hope that this would provide an opportunity to allow more people to come to understand graffiti culture,” he said.
Chen said that artistic creativity is something that embodies ever-expanding cultural growth, and she would continue to support young artists.
Graffiti on the campaign office would encourage a variety of political views to be discussed, she said.
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