Vancouver businesses fight back against graffiti with Mohinder t-shirts

Two local Mount Pleasant businesses are joining forces against prolific tagger Mohinder to raise money for victims of graffiti in Vancouver.

After more than 100 businesses and homes in East Vancouver were targeted by the tag in the last several months, Mike Jackson and Liz Toohey-Wiese have decided to make Mohinder t-shirts and donate some of the proceeds to help local businesses cover the cost of graffiti removal.

Jackson, owner of Thriller – Grubwear, said the shirts will say “Mohinder” in the tag’s distinctively elementary scrawl and also include the word “toy.”

According to Jackson, “toy” is a derogatory term used by graffiti artists to describe amateur writers, or writers who have no skill.

“To ‘overtag’ and then re-tag with your tag, then write “toy” beside is the ultimate dis,” Jackson said. “Pro taggers don’t like Mohinder because of the crappy skills.”

While some think the t-shirts will give Mohinder more publicity than he deserves, Jackson thinks the shirts will be a jab at him.

“And Mohinder isn’t going to show up and say ‘hey that’s my tag.’”

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While the t-shirts are ultimately light-hearted in nature, they do address a larger problem in Vancouver.

For Mount Pleasant home and business owners, the issue of graffiti is an constant and costly one.

According to Vancouver bylaws, innocent property owners targeted by graffiti must have it removed within 10 days of being served a notice from the city.

If the graffiti is not removed, the city will remove it themselves and the cost will be billed to the property owner.

David Wong, owner of the Main Street Dairy Queen Brazier and the neighbouring building, pays thousands of dollars a year to remove graffiti from his two properties.

That’s a hefty sum of money, considering the minimum fine for anyone caught writing graffiti is only $500.

Amy Moscrop, spokesperson for East Vancouver-based graffiti removal company Goodbye Graffiti, said although there has been a spike in business recently, she can’t say whether Mohinder is responsible.

“It’s hard to see. It’s on a lot of businesses and it’s negatively affecting people and costing them money. A lot of these are small businesses. It’s definitely detrimental.,” she said.

Toohey-Wiese, who works at Collage Collage near Fraser Street and Kingsway, wanted to do something to help affected business owners cover the cost.

“It’s a lot of money to pay to get buildings repainted and for that money to come out of the pocket of business owners is really too bad,” she said. “That money comes from someone who is putting their kids through school, or money for their families to buy groceries.”

Toohey-Wiese and Jackson are hoping their t-shirts will spin the Mohinder problem into something more positive.

“We just thought it would be a good idea to give something back to people who have been targeted in a negative way,” Toohey-Wiese said.

Who is Mohinder?

While the identity of Mohinder has yet to be uncovered, Wong said the person responsible usually strikes at night on Thursday, Friday or Saturday.

Little else is known about the tagger, but judging by the meaning behind the namesake, he or she may have a sense of humour.

The Hindu name “Mohinder” is based on the Sanskrit term “great indra,” which means possessing drops of rain in Sanskrit. Indra is the name of the ancient Hindu warrior god of the sky and rain, a fitting tribute to Vancouver’s rainy weather.

The Vancouver police said if the person responsible for Mohinder is caught, they could face charges of mischief.