Graffiti tags (the artists’ nicknames) have surged in Brisbane over the past year with 24,000 additional tags bringing the 2016-17 total to 83,334.
This spike disrupts a downward trend from 139,891 tags in 2009-10 to 59,278 tags in 2015-16, reports Brisbane Times.
The Council spends more than $3 million annually on graffiti prevention and removal. It has 11 graffiti removal crews and monitors 400 known hot spots across Brisbane.
While it’s a costly exercise to remove it, in rare cases graffiti can actually improve the value of a property. A derelict pub in the UK had its value double after it was adorned with a piece of “guerrilla” art thought to be the work of the world-renowned artist Banksy.
Closer to home, the artist dubbed Brisbane’s Banksy hasn’t enjoyed such good fortune, having been found guilty last year of wilful damage in a case brought against him by the Brisbane City Council.
Whether you want to avoid it or embrace it, Brisbane City Council data over the past two years pinpoints these suburbs as Brisbane’s graffiti hotspots:
- West End
- Brisbane CBD
- South Brisbane
- Fortitude Valley
- Fitzgibbon
- Forest Lake
- Woolloongabba
- Greenslopes
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