Graffiti Documentary,

Graffiti. Art or vandalism? The subject has been debated for years, but one film director put the argument aside to document the craft in all its good, bad and ugly instants. Making A Name, a documentary surrounding the Montreal graffiti scene, screened for the first time in Toronto at Big Picture Cinemas last month. Director Patrick O’Connor began filming the documentary in 2004 and created an interesting piece telling the story of Montreal’s graff sub-culture. With interviews from prominent Montreal graffiti writers such as Castro, Aper, Maysr, Killa EF, Scan and Produkt, footage of late night rooftop tags, running from cops and trains, as well as the death of Montreal Graffiti legend Jays, who was struck by a train while tagging, O’Connor was able to capture the passion and emotion that goes with the craft. Whether you believe that it is art or vandalism, the footage he was able to capture is enough to garner respect for those who risk their lives to be seen, while remaining unseen. Urbanology Magazine had the opportunity to speak with O’Connor following the screening to understand more about his vision on the project.

WHAT WAS THE MOST DIFFICULT PART OF FILMING THE DOCUMENTARY? Every year there is a certain beef between graffiti writers and sometimes I could be in the middle of it, unintentionally. For the most part, it’s okay, they understand that I’m doing a documentary, but there are a few hard heads that gave me a hard time documenting their enemies. ‘Why’d you interview this [person]?’ or ‘don’t put him in,’ that was, I wouldn’t say stressful, but the biggest challenge. As far as going to the locations like subway tunnels or rooftops, some people thought was hard, but that’s just stuff that I did as a graffiti writer. The politics was the worst.

YOU INTERVIEWED MANY OF THE MAIN STAPLES IN THE MONTREAL GRAFFITI SCENE. BY DOING SO DID YOU FIND YOURSELF AS A STAPLE AND YOUR DOCUMENTARY A PART OF THAT SCENE SINCE BEGINNING FILMING IN 2004? It’s kind of not even out yet. It screened once in my city so it’s not yet out there on the Internet yet, but I think it will for sure.

WHAT MAKES MONTREAL SO DIFFERENT FROM OTHER CANADIAN CITIES IN TERMS OF GRAFF WRITING? I guess the amount. It fluctuates – different years, different neighbourhoods at certain times, but it’s been known in the graffiti world as the capital of graffiti in Canada. A lot of cities look up to Montreal, like Toronto and smaller cities.

WHY WAS MAKING THIS DOCUMENTARY SO IMPORTANT TO YOU? I just wanted to show the public the minds of graffiti writers, their selective intention, what they value but I didn’t want to try and justify it or anything, but just to show what goes on, in depth.