Public washrooms throughout the world have graffiti scrawled across their walls, and generally the quality of artwork is pretty crappy. Based on the abundance of hateful slurs and apparently undirected insults, intelligence seems to be inversely proportional to how many markers one needs to be equipped with in order to successfully use the washroom.

Terrible graffiti unfortunately isn’t exclusive to washroom stalls; step outside in most parts of London and you’ll see spray-paint speckled fences and names tagged on walls. As a town that should be full of young, educated and talented people, why can’t we also boast quality graffiti?

People are generally divided when it comes to graffiti. Some see it as pure vandalism, while others see it as art. Although most art is subjective, and enjoyment varies depending on the person, the quality of graffiti is wholly dependent on the “artist.”

If I go downtown one day to see the side of an abandoned building covered in a mural, I’m going to appreciate this more than a drab, dilapidated or blank wall face.  If I step outside to see you writing “downz” on the side of my house, I might consider pushing you down a hill, or at least calling the police.

The grouping of vandalism and street art is the reason why graffiti isn’t celebrated or featured prominently in London. People see no difference between the kid who thinks he’s in a gang scrawling his name on a fence and the artist who uses the world as his canvas.

The city could benefit from both a decrease in vandalism and an increase in art, and educating the public on the difference between the two needs to happen.

Instead of paying clean-up crews to erase the markings from property, the city should hire some talented graffiti artists to paint murals over surfaces tainted with illegible writing. This would allow people to see the difference between the two classes of graffiti, while simultaneously curing a pretty prevalent problem in London.

The marked walls of London misrepresent a city that has so much to boast. We have hospitals to match our university medical programs, a stadium to match our sports programs and shiny buildings to match our business program. There is no reason London shouldn’t also reflect a university-class visual arts program.

The cure to garbage graffiti lies in the hands of many different people.  Although creating street art may not be an option for most people due to either artistic or legal restrictions, there are some simple things anyone can do to fix the problem.  The easiest thing to do is to refrain from spray-painting the nickname you gave to yourself on every dumpster you see.   Beyond this, the overall attitude of street art needs to change before we will see any kind of dumpster beautification.