Bleach Graffiti

Bleach Graffiti is a craze that has not only been used by teenagers and young "artists" but one which is currently becoming more accepted by business people and land owners who own property that is the subject of graffiti on a regular basis.

The idea of "Bleach Graffitiing" is that adolescents can feel free to draw, paint or leave their mark on a wall or footpath - using white or coloured bleach aeresols rather than the usual spray paint—and when it rains they mark will both be washed off by the rain, and will actually clean the medium while this is happening.

History

The idea came about in early 2006 in Derry, Northern Ireland, when a youth group spotted a young special needs boy who had accidentally picked up a bleach spray instead of his spray paint and was having trouble spraying his name, and the name of his pet goldfish (local press report "mowgli") onto the wall of a stone and pebble shop near his home. After pointing out the error of his ways, the youth group leaders went to fetch some sponges to scrub off the illegible markings on the wall. Unfortunately they were made to wait when it started to rain outside. When they got out they were shocked to discover that the words had disappeared, and in their place the brick wall was sparkling like "nothing normal". This compelled Richard Drach to start promoting the use of bleach spray as graffiti.

Promotion

When local supermarkets started to sell the specially labelled bleach canisters they gave away free stencils of letters, stars, names of local militant groups etc. to aid teens with bad handwriting and the like.

Special Uses

Many up and coming local bands have used this new method to help promote their own business. For example, local band A.E.R have used stencils to spray their name in bleach around Derry city centre on walls, trees and footpaths on days of events. This technique has gained them a lot of respect from the council as well as the teen punk population.