"Not vandalism, but art!"

More recently, they were called vandals. And today graffiti is the mainstream. Street artists armed with spray cans and sprayers change a monotonous and often dull city landscape for the better. In Khanty-Mansiysk, the IX Festival of Street Arts "Stengraphfia" was held. And on many city streets it became more fun to walk.

For several years, Stenographer had a reboot of many people in the minds of many people, changing their idea of street art. More recently, the townspeople were often outraged by "hooliganism", and some even called the police to pacify the "vandals". Now the team of graffitih is willingly accepted in many cities of the country.

And the main thing in “stenographer” is not drawings, but people and their desire to change the world around, ” says Konstantin Rakhmanov, curator of the project:

The coolest projects begin with the lower classes, with active people who wanted and began to do

“ Our team appeared in Yekaterinburg nine years ago,” says Konstantin. -I am Graffitos, who runs, draws something illegally on the street, Evgeny Yuryevich Fateev is our ideologist, Andrei Bolokolov, who is from the upper Pyshma, the suburbs of Yekaterinburg, and works at a construction site without education. Three characters gathered and thought: "Oh, it would be great to make a street art festival, the best festival of street art so that it explodes directly, and Yekaterinburg has become the capital of Street Art." Cool ambitious task. They started to do and came to this. We believe that after all, the most cool projects begin with the lower classes, with active people who wanted and began to do. Not when the administration gives the task to people who do not want to do this, but get money for it. When financing ends, this end is complete. And if projects begin with the lower classes, when active indifferent people appear, then this is more drive and “tribulations”.

I myself have been engaged in graffiti for about 15 years, I do not know how to draw, but I can organize

The drive is no less for volunteers. Every year, the project attracts more and more volunteers, and everyone brings something in this story.

- Our position: it is not necessary to be an artist to draw. Now there is a projector who lights up the drawing, and you are doing a job by embrying. I myself have been engaged in graffiti for about 15 years, I do not know how to draw, but I can organize. I know which guys you can call, how everything can be formulated. Therefore, we really like it when just ordinary people join our team. For example, in Yekaterinburg we have more than 100 volunteers, ”says Konstantin. - A girl came to us, who was a volunteer year earlier. We began to get acquainted, asked why I came to what you were doing here. She says: “I, from there, from there, last year, the volunteer participated for the first time. You know, at five in the morning I met the artist, settled him in the hotel, then went with him to the object, dragged the paint, held the stairs, went down, I got sick, was cold, finished at three in the morning, came home at six in the morning. I thought, damn it, here we are scoundrels, we exploit people. And at the very end, she said: "I liked everything, it was so cool, so I came again." How so? Apparently, everyone here finds something his own, and this is cool. "Stenographer" is not only about drawings, but rather about people.

The “stenographer” team is carefully preparing for a visit to each city, trying to combine their own ideas with what is expensive and significant for people in this place. That is why the graffiti of visiting artists in various cities are ready to recognize "their own". In Khanty-Mansiysk, the graffitter are based on local folklore, reflecting in their drawings the traditions of indigenous peoples.

“This is cool, only many police officers do not understand this, attribute the 214th article ( “ Vandalism. ”-S.R.) , and this is actually art,” says local resident Vladimir Mayorov. - The guys tried, literally in 4 days they did everything, and it is beautiful. I personally watched the process. The city is changing for the better. Every day I move on a longboard and see many new drawings. Of course, such graffiti decorate the city, I would like to see them more. It would be nice if local authorities more supported such projects, and not only visitors, but also their artists.

The first graffiti from "stenrase" appeared on the wall near the Center for Arts for the gifted children of the North. For a long time this building was surrounded by gray concrete, thanks to the graffiti, the dull space is changing. Here, raven, bear and crucian carp are already flaunting - typical characters of Siberian folklore.

-All these characters are from myths, some local customs. The bear, for example, from a fairy tale, a raven from the signs of local indigenous peoples, the fish is also associated with the north and your region. This is not just painted, but with meaning, ”explains the artist Maxim Petrov . - Here it is precisely the texture of the wall is very interesting: the day is depicted on the outside, on the inner - night.

This year we draw a dragonfly and simultaneously update the old shabby paint on these objects

Not to say that it is difficult to work with this wall, but there are some features. Depends on the weather, for example. Suppose a raven we painted for three days, it was rain, and he was very disturbed by us. Now the weather is cool, the sun, the work is going much faster. The city is changing every year. He used to be some kind of gray, but now it is becoming more friendly.

To make cities and life brighter is one of the main ideas of "stenographer".

“Let's look at our art from the local authorities,” says Konstantin Rakhmanov. - There are a lot of dirty, gray, inconspicuous, spoiled by vandals and buildings of buildings in the cities. The city needs to do something with this. There are many objects in megacities who have no owners. It seems to be, but not him, and no one understands what to do with him. Nobody needs him, no one wants to spend a means on him. We can come and somehow decorate it, make a landmark out of this. That is, we are here for local authorities - as a tool for solving urban problems.

10-15 people come a day to take a picture against the background of a bear and fish

In big cities, the problem: there is point A and point B between which you walk: your head down, quickly home, turn on the TV. And then you go-it was like a gray wall, and tomorrow it became bright orange. You pay attention to this, there, you looked there - you think, and wow, so I seem to have a good and beautiful city. A person begins to line up with a person with a city. The guys draw and say that 10-15 people come a day to take pictures against the background of bear and fish. Although she has gritted it, people are still photographed. We have a target audience - the whole city.

On an electric substation in one of the central yards, artists painted a piece of the Khanty-Mansiysk sky. The signature reads: "Sunset July 5". The municipal enterprise "City Electric Networks" offered to decorate the inconspicuous building of another substation. Red brick gradually turned into a green canvas, on which the outlines of the future picture are already visible.

- There will be a bright drawing, a girl on a bicycle. Just bring the summer to the city, although your summer is warmer than in our Urals. The weather is cool, burn slowly, sunbathe. The city is also very interesting, we are accustomed to the fact that the buildings are monotonous, and you are all completely different, ”says one of the organizers of the action, Evgeny Rudykh . - Every year, the level of adequate perception is growing. At first, this was perceived at the level of "why, for what?" And now the owners of these buildings themselves came out on us and offered to paint. There are no serious polls or there are no problems with the coordination.

Alexey, the head of the local language center, leaves the neighboring brick building: "Hello! How are you? I am the owner of this building, did you also plan to do something with him?" He contacted the graffitches in advance, but just in case, he still decided to remind himself of himself. By the end of the festival, graffiti should appear on the wall of the language center.

This year, “stenographer”, in addition to Yekaterinburg and Khanty-Mansiysk, will visit Omsk, Noyabrsk, Muravlenko (Yanao), Orenburg, two villages behind the Polar Circle in the Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrug-the new port and Cape Kamenny, and the festival in September in Tomsk will end.