In DC, a Battle Between Graffiti Lovers, Haters

U Street is mostly deserted when Aceba Broadus and his three-person crew from the District of Columbia’s Department of Public Works start setting up shop before 8am at one of DC’s perennial graffiti hot spots. They tap a hydrant to fill the 275-gallon tank in their truck and get to work—coating graffiti-covered walls with a special chemical and then blasting them with high-pressure water. The work progresses quickly, but Broadus holds few illusions that their efforts will last long. “Come back on Friday and it will be all retagged again,” he said on a Tuesday. “It’s definitely a bit frustrating.” Across town, Eric B. Ricks is engaged in his own graffiti project. Using a scissor lift, Ricks applies a coat of primer to the wall of Savoy Elementary School in preparation for what will become a city-sponsored mural of geometric patterns and multicolored birds. “Graffiti is different for every practitioner of the craft,” said Ricks, a longtime graffiti artist. “It’s like a hydra, this multiheaded thing that’s many things to many people. Graffiti in its purest form is like a flower growing out of filth and muck.” This eye-of-the-beholder dynamic between vandalism and urban art form has been a reality...