Graffiti artists from Güngören, who have been painting the walls of their district for many years while living in fear of the police, no longer have to hide. For the past three months, the municipality has been covering the cost of the paint for the young artists who have been creating graffiti on the walls provided by the municipality.
Oğuz Erdem (18) and Ulaş Çelik (17) were detained by the police while doing graffiti on the walls of the tram station in Güngören a few months ago. The two, who spent a night in jail for the crime of "damaging public property," faced backlash from their families after this incident. Following this, they began looking for ways to do graffiti legally. They went to the municipality, explained their situation, and offered to paint the empty walls in their district. Now, together with a group of friends, they are decorating the walls of Güngören. Oğuz Erdem explains how they managed this: “For three months, the municipality has been buying our paints and providing us with walls. Therefore, we can apply all our designs. There are many different groups doing graffiti in Güngören. We have good relations with some, and bad relations with others. However, since we are on the rise lately, there are some who are jealous of us.” The municipality's graffiti artists, or as they call themselves, the GNG Clan, have around 15 members. So far, they have painted over 500 meters of wall in Güngören. The public's reaction has always been positive. While in the past, residents would chase these young people away saying, "What are you doing?", now they ask, "Could you write my name too?" or "I think you should have done it in a different way," making requests and comments. Looking at the history of graffiti in Turkey, which began in the 1980s worldwide, going back only about 10 years is enough. Despite its short history, there are quite a large number of young graffiti artists in Turkey. And they all believe what they do is art. However, Ulaş Çelik explains that until a few years ago, they were almost treated like terrorists: "Some people thought we were right-wing or left-wing. Some even called us 'Satanists.' Because there is a lack of awareness and prejudice in Turkey. This perspective has somewhat changed since I started working at the municipality."

NOT A YOUTH WHIM
Young people from Güngören don't see graffiti as just a youthful folly. "There are people in the world who still do graffiti even when they're 50," they say, explaining that they too will continue their art to the very end. In fact, their greatest hope is that graffiti will become an industry in the future, allowing them to turn this once illegal activity into a profession. To this end, they will be organizing a festival in the coming weeks bringing together Turkey's most talented graffiti artists. At this event, dozens of young people will paint on the same wall all day long.

Ece Koçal

Everyone has their own style.

Members of the GNG Clan say that every graffiti artist has their own style. While these drawings may seem identical at first glance, experts can easily distinguish them. They even add their signatures, which they call "tags," to their work. Batı, bye-reel, choma, or mate are some examples. “Other graffiti artists recognize us by our signatures, not our names. Since this is an illegal activity, it’s better that our names remain unknown,” says Ulaş Çelik. According to the young people from Güngören, the philosophy of graffiti is based on its illegal nature. “Those who start graffiti always do it through illegal means. Because nobody gives you a place to express your imagination. Besides, it’s enjoyable to do it secretly,” says Oğuz Erdem. However, they don’t accept that their current collaboration with the municipality goes against the spirit of graffiti. They explain the reason unanimously: “There is a distinction between illegal and legal graffiti. In legal graffiti, creativity is paramount. Because you have the time to work as you wish. If you do it illegally, you constantly have to be on the run.” The biggest problem for young graffiti artists is that, despite the large number of talented people in Turkey, they are not given sufficient opportunities. For example, here there is only one shade of color in the paints, while in Europe there are 20 shades of a single color. Furthermore, the paints they use are industrial paints. Therefore, they say, "Our imagination is being limited." Nevertheless, they are very happy to at least be able to practice their art without having to run away from the police. And they are also happy not to be labeled as terrorists…