Murals near UT Austin campus defaced
Vandals have defaced several staple murals near the University Co-Op in West Campus. It’s still unclear who is responsible for tagging the art work that dates back decades with graffiti.
AUSTIN, Texas – Vandals have defaced several staple murals in West Campus near the University Co-Op, tagging art work that dates back decades with graffiti.
“I just feel really bad for the artist who spend so much time and hours painting their passions, and they get covered up by graffiti. It is just not fair to them, it is not fair to the people who see it on Guad,” said UT Austin student, Brooke Derdiger.
“What was just written, it can’t really be considered artistic expression, so it is so evidently disrespectful,” said UT Austin student Emily Siugel.
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Iconic murals covered by vulgar language are on display near the University Co-Op.
Students are calling the tagged artwork an eyesore.
“When I first visited UT, I remember seeing this mural and, like, obviously it is kind of like an iconic mural, and the first time I remember seeing it vandalized, I was really surprised,” Siugel said.
This week, West Campus Ambassadors, a specialized safety, cleaning and hospitality team, painted over the graffiti. Many of the murals have not been restored to the original condition.
“I always see on my walks home from class painters out just covering up paint , especially over there by the Cava. There is tons of graffiti over there,” Derdiger said.
“It’s a little bit disheartening, especially for murals like this which had so much artistic effort put into, for people to have to go the extra mile to clean it up. It feels disrespectful,” Siugel said. “Them vandalizing someone else’s works with their own graffiti tag feels like a violation of the right thing to do in graffiti culture.”
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According to students, the damaged murals impact not only community members but also those visiting.
“If you are touring the campus, this is what you’re going to see, and people get the wrong impression sometimes, but really there is a lot meanings behind the paintings,” Derdiger said.
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