Doing Time For Art Crime – Amuk

There’s been a lot of talk lately about street art v.s graffiti, what is art? what should be celebrated and what is pure vandalism worthy of nothing but the buff. The arguments on both sides can be hypocritical and at some times confusing. But what is clear is that BTP are using over inflated removal costs to persecute individuals unlucky enough to get caught.

Whatever side of the fence you’re on, the hypocrisy of covering Banksy pieces with protective perspex whilst cleaning off pieces, judged to be of lesser artistic merit, can escape nobody’s attention. It appears that what really sets Banksy apart is that his work is worth money, lots of money. What this does is effectively create a class system within graffiti. What we’re saying as a society is that if you get away with it long enough, and produce work that has a broad enough appeal outside of the aerosol art community, you may get to a point where people buy your work and effectively you become above-the-law. When this happens your works become national treasures, are protected, and your newest illegal actions become lauded like the opening of a major new exhibition and promoted through the national newspapers. If however you are caught, you are hauled in front of a judge and can be treated worse than violent criminals.

Banksy is the obvious example but someone like Eine, whose painting David Cameron gave to Obama on his first state visit, could equally be held up as an example of this. At the other end of the spectrum we have people like Amuk – who recently finished a jail term and a period on electronic tag, 3 weeks before finishing university, for 12 instances of ‘vandalism’. His work is amazing and nobody can deny that it has artistic merit. Yet he was sentenced to a longer time behind bars than drunk drivers, perpetrators of GBH and ABH, and even pedophiles who had recently come before the same judge. Something is surely amiss when we as a society send out the message that assault, drink driving, and downloading obscene imagery of children are all more acceptable forms of crime than expressing oneself creatively. Clearly on a scale of social harm, paintings in the wrong place aren’t even in the same league as these other crimes. Also equally clear is that if you treat the youth as criminals they’ll behave as such. The recent riots are as much a reflection of the way in which we’ve denigrated the next generation as it was a reaction to the hopeless situation so many in this country face in the wake of the financial crisis and resulting cuts to services.

Amuk took some time to talk to us ahead of his Meeting Of Styles appearance about his recent experiences at the rough end of the justice system.

In 2010 I received an 18 month sentence for criminal damage. It covered 12 cases, about 8 of them being trains. The BTP decided that the total for these was 52k, a ridiculous figure when I saw paper work that detailed the actual cleaning costs, which is around £500-600 for a panel piece. My solicitor was pretty useless and had no clue about graff and didn’t seem to care about what I was like as a person.

So after 2 years on bail after my arrest in 2008 and a 3 day trial I started my time in Elmley, Kent’s biggest prison. I was there for a few weeks an just got settled when I got bumped over the road to Stamford Hill, an open prison. I was pretty happy about that as opens are a lot more relaxed and you get more freedom, Its not a 22 hour bang up like Elmley. Once I got settled up there the time went pretty fast, I was in the gym a lot, as you do, and I was doing artwork and outlines for other people, that got me paid!!!

I was pretty lucky and got the option to go home on tag, so after 4 and a half months I came home. It didn’t feel like a long time so it wasn’t a bit shock or anything. The tag sucked, my curfew was 7pm till 7am. As most of the time I had it was winter I didn’t miss too much, but it really made things difficult. Luckily I had no restrictions on having paint so I tried to paint as much as possible, just not traveling far so I wouldn’t mess up my curfew. People kept telling me ways I could get it off or screw up their system, but I thought knowing my luck I’ll be the one who gets caught out! So I did the tag for 4 and a half months and it finally came off at the end of January this year.

Im still on probation till November so I cant leave the country and have meetings once a month. Im looking forward to that so I can go visit a few places. That will be my freedom back! Im not too bitter after the experience, I didn’t let it change me as a person. I think it even made me more confident.

If I can make it through that OK, I can do pretty much anything on the outside. People who know me don’t treat me much differently, sometimes when I tell new people, I can almost feel them judging me a little or making their own conclusions. People think I did worse things to end up with 18 months, but when I explain about the BTP and their inflated case values people seem to understand more.

The waste of money on the part of the justice system is a joke in my case. When I was arrested I was already winding down my illegal painting, I was at Uni and I was doing a lot of work with young people, teaching them how they can get into graff and use it positively and encourage them as artists.

All these positive things and they still felt the need to lock me up. And they end up having to pay for me to be in prison, give me money when leaving prison, set me up with job seekers when I got out, pay for the tag for 4 months and then have me go to probation every month. Surely a fine would’ve been of greater benefit to society, especially in the current economic situation.

But this is what we are up against. Writers are still getting locked up and receiving ridiculous sentences. Hopefully the public will realise and something can finally be done to stop people going down for graff.

All I wana know is where is Banksy when you need him?!

RIP Damer

RIP Skeam

Free all writers

Amuk