#graffitiart

scopOphilic_micromessaging_1585 - scopOphilic1997 presents a new micro-messaging series: small, subtle, and often unintentional messages we send and receive verbally and non-verbally. (2025)

We went to tour Michigan Central Station, and it was spectacular. This train station was the main transit hub in Detroit from 1914 to 1988. If you aren't from here, it's important that you know it was owned by a local billionaire who just let it rot. It was in horrible shape, flooded, every window broken, and pillaged of all of its relics.

But, while it was a sad broken building, it was also home to tons of amazing graffiti art. Ford bought the building in 2018 and began a huge undertaking of restoring it. I could write pages about all the amazing restoration. Thousands of people put in millions of hours. I figured all the graffiti was lost to the renovation.

I was so excited to see that they saved an entire hallway of the original artwork, and I saw this exhibit today.

Here is the text if it's hard to read:

GRAFFITI PRESERVATION

From 1988 to 2018, Michigan Central Station became an important location for graffiti artists who made the building their canvas. There was great respect for the graffiti found in The Station, including early work from Detroit's own Fel3000ft- who says he learned and honed his craft here - and many other prominent artists.

As The Station changed hands, previous owners took steps to remove the graffiti, in some instances damaging the building's walls through improper cleaning techniques. Under Ford's ownership, the significance of this art was not lost on the restoration team. Local artists helped to assess each piece and to ascribe credit to the creators of the graffiti art where possible. The College of Creative Studies documented the work for archival purposes Italian Renaissance art experts who specialize in fresco preservation advised on how best to remove panels of fragile plaster for safekeeping

The guidelines for landmark restoration required that The Station be returned to its original state, but it was important to the team that some of the art remain in place to preserve this chapter of the building's life. They successfully argued for permission to keep some of the graffiti intact, and as you leave through the southeast exit, you will find a hallway where some original graffiti remains.

I love this vibrant city, and I'm excited that if we have to have everything owned by billionaires, that we switched this building to one who has reverence for Detroit and all that makes it beautiful.