A Toronto artist’s street artwork was defaced with vulgar, racist graffiti after it was entered into a local festival in Waterloo Region, but he doesn’t want it covered up.
Instead, Evond “Mediah” Blake says he wants the community to see it for what it is.
Blake submitted the piece as a part of the Cambridge International Street Art Festival on Saturday. Yet when Blake returned to the event, he found his piece had been vandalized.
Blake posted a picture on Facebook showing the words “F— you n—–” spray painted on the bottom of the painting, adding his piece was the only one damaged.
He said organizers and residents wanted him to cover the vandalism, but he has refused.
“They can’t stomach the bitter reality of racism in their town so they want it covered,” Blake wrote in part. “I’m done here…time is money and more importantly time is finite. I can’t waste it, especially when the spirit of my artwork has abandoned the surface and left the town.”
When reached by Global News on Monday morning, Blake declined to speak further about what happened due to feedback he received after his initial Facebook post.
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“I’m very appalled at what’s happened,” Cambridge mayor Doug Craig told Global News. “In my 16 years as mayor, I’ve never seen anything like this.”
Festival spokesperson Brian Price said in a statement the incident “is a social issue, not a festival issue.”
“We are absolutely supportive of Mediah and are 100% against this kind of racial behaviour,” Price added.
Craig said he had spoken with Waterloo Regional Police and said hate crime officers are investigating the incident.
Word of the vandalism has community members in the Waterloo region speaking out.
“There is the part of me that’s saddened to hear this is going on, but I can’t necessarily say that I’m surprised,” Laura Mae Lindo, director of the diversity and equity office at Wilfrid Laurier University, said on Monday.
Lindo organized a summit earlier this year after racist graffiti was found on the university campus. She said there has to be a broader, strategic discussion on how best to respond to these types of incidents.
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Lindo said she has heard of people removing racist messages and posting notes telling residents about the graffiti that was found. She said there are pros and cons of keeping the message up.
“On the one hand, if you have the message up there’s the potential of increased harm,” Lindo said. “On the other hand, if you take the message down there’s the potential of silencing the dialogue.”
Meanwhile, Craig said the artwork will stay up for a few weeks, but the graffiti will be covered.
The mayor has apologized on behalf of the community on Monday and welcomed Blake to return to Cambridge.
“I want to reassure the artist that in fact this is not who we are as a Cambridge community,” Craig said.
“This is one person that has done something that has brought a disgrace upon all of us in terms of what they have done.”
With files from Mark McAllister
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