Great or Gauche? How an NT Student Feels About the Bathroom Graffiti

Breaking down the art on the bathroom stalls.

Clara Proulx Contributor

From cartoon characters to body parts, I’m sure that we’re all familiar with the diverse array of unique expressions featured on the washroom stalls of NT. In fact, one need not even brave the bathrooms to see NT’s extensive graffiti collection; samples of NT’s works were shown to all of us; courtesy of faculty, in an attempt to catch those responsible for said creations. And yet, I can’t help but wonder why this has become a pressing issue?

Why are we arbitrarily labelling harmless doodles as “vandalism”? Let us refer to them as what they are: works of art, because while crude, many of the drawings feature concepts of proportion, anatomy, and colour theory so complex that they could not be recreated by the majority of the student body- even with that mandatory art credit under our belts. Moreover, the sheer level of detail and planning begs the question: just how long did this person have to spend crammed into the corner of the stall drawing the entire cast of the muppets? The lack of understanding for the skill, time, effort, and most importantly, appreciation for these drawings vexes me.

Students at NT actually claim that the art in the bathrooms improves the dingy atmosphere drastically. Entering the bathrooms at NT is widely understood to be an unpleasant affair. Those who open the doors are greeted with a unilateral assault on all of their senses. One’s sensory receptors are simultaneously cauterised by the combined stench of urine and god knows what collection of vape juices, the migraine inducing intense lighting, the depressing concrete walls, and the claustrophobic lack of space. However, students report that the drawings on the walls aid in combating said sensory overload. One grade 10 student remarked that she feels happier after seeing the graffiti in the bathrooms, because it says you look pretty, which is “very validating.”

Another grade 10 student claimed that, “it’s comforting to know Elmo’s there for me when I’m stuck in a stall with no toilet paper.” And even those who don’t frequent the bathrooms are adamant that the graffiti on the bathroom is a welcome improvement. With this unanimously supportive feedback, one becomes hard pressed to deny the colossally positive impact that graffiti has had on NT students. Perhaps the only real victims in this state of play are the caretakers who are tasked with scrubbing the images. I assume it feels bad to erase art, and I acknowledge that in drawing on the stalls, the caretakers are put into a difficult position. Also, if your job is to ensure the schools stay clean and bare, being given extra work likely feels unfair and frustrating.

Let’s take the advice of the wise person who once said, “give me the strength to accept that which I can not change.” Graffiti is not confined to the walls of NT, it’s a divisive topic that has even gone so far as to prompt government intervention in some places. As is the same with a slew of other issues, so long as enough people have the will to commit an act, no amount of authoritative policy will be one hundred percent effective eliminating it, so why fight the tides? Instead of treating graffiti as a blemish to be corrected, view it as something with the express purpose of bringing light and mirth to the experiences of the student body. After all, some of the greatest visual and literary artists of their time were persecuted before they were embraced.