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The ways in which creative expressions are allowed to exist in Austin is a source of fundamental tension. For a city, public art is a “slippery slope”; “a delicate dance of diplomacy” that calls into question the effects of government involvement in aesthetic decisions as its existing influence is also responsible for constructing criminal identities and shaping boundaries of social control. Increased efforts by the city to collaborate with and support its creative industries confuse the issue of renegade art – any work created without permission in a public place – which is illegal. Despite its contribution to Austin’s creative climate, renegade artwork is discouraged and erased, and those who create without permission are stereotyped and punished.

To get perspective on the controversial medium of graffiti, I spoke with two individuals on different sides of the issue: Julia Narem, director of the city's Graffiti Abatement Program, and a graffiti artist and advocate named Nathan 'Sloke' Nordstrom who has been painting in Austin – legally and illegally – for more than 20 years.

"Style Wars" is a 1983 documentary that explores the elements of hip hop culture, with an emphasis on graffiti. Filmed in New York City  and directed by Tony Silver, the film originally aired on PBS and won the grand jury prize for documentaries at the Sundance Film Festival in 1984.

From "The New York Times":

"New York’s lavish, brilliantly colored graffiti was a kind of urban heraldry that from the 1970s onward symbolized the city to the rest of the world. It leapt boldly from spray cans onto walls, bridges and — in what practitioners considered their crowning glory — the outsides of subway cars. Some observers saw it as a dazzling form of public expression, others as an unsightly public nuisance."

In an article from NPR: