Monday 18 February 2013

The Great Wall of Ramsgate

I understand that some of the art work on the Great Wall has been defaced and vandalised. I have not seen the damage yet, but will be going to see for myself tomorrow. I am very saddened by this incident. A lot of hard work and imagination went into the paintings and this has now been been deliberatetly ruined.

I am on record as supporting graffiti on the the Great Wall as a means of expressing anger and concern about the what lies behind the wall. However, I have always made it clear that I do not support graffiti which damages any of the paintings. Here is a extract from an  e-mail I sent to Gerry O'Donnell about this 2 weeks ago

 "I have no problem with people adding graffiti to the Great Wall providing that they do not damage existing contributions."

I very much hope that this act of vandalism was not an effort to undermine the  Friends of Ramsgate Seafront who are working tirelessy to improve our seafront and tackle eyesores such as Pleasurama site and the boarded  up Pavillion. If anyone feels that my comments have in any way encourage this act of vandalism then please accept my full and unreserved apology






3 comments:

  1. Just in case not everyone has access to the full statement, here it is....

    "Personally I support grafiti & think there should more of it! Since writing began 20-30,000 years ago people have been drawing and writing on walls. It's human nature. You can't stop it. Grafiti can be incredibly funny and it can also be highly political, helping to bring down tyrants. It can also be very artistic too. Think Banksy!. So I fully support the anti-Pleasurama grafiti which has appeared on the Great wall of Ramsgate. It's in the right place at the right time and there should be more of it to expose the scandal behind the wall."

    No encouragement there then....Disgracefull.

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  2. Anon please feel free to use my words selectively I also said

    "I have no problem with people adding graffiti to the Great Wall providing that they do not damage existing contributions."

    I think this gives the full picture

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  3. So your still condoning the defacement of private property, the blank spaces are not there to be defaced any more than the paintings.

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