Lachlan MacDowall, "In Praise of 70K: Cultural Heritage and Graffiti Style," Continuum: The Australian Journal of Media and Culture 20: 4
(December 2006): 471-484

Abstract
This paper investigates recent framings of graffiti as a form of cultural heritage in Melbourne, beginning with a 1999 proposal by the National Trust to classify a piece of 1950s political graffiti in the inner city suburb of Richmond. Since then, the City of Yarra has formally recognised the cultural value of local graffiti, the City of Melbourne has proposed graffiti 'tolerance zones' and a number of examples of graffiti deemed significant have been given protection under local planning regulations and heritage legislation.

This paper argues that these local council policy developments should be considered in the context of the failure of previous graffiti prevention strategies and struggles over the constitution of specific locales in the light of an anticipated State Government clean-up of the city prior to the 2006 Commonwealth Games. In particular, it examines how local government policies deploy aesthetic or value categories and negotiate the philosophical and practical contradictions inherent in the notion of heritage protection for graffiti.

What effect does this official memorialising of graffiti have on graffiti production? While forms of graffiti stencilling now popular in Melbourne appear to lend themselves (and actively anticipate) framing as cultural heritage, other forms of graffiti, exemplified by the work of prominent graffiti crew 70K, undermine the aesthetic and historical categories necessary for the establishment of heritage value. Drawing on Joe Austin and Jeff Rice's materialist readings of graffiti, this paper connects the recent interest in graffiti as cultural heritage to shifts in the aesthetics and style of Melbourne graffiti.