Shane Walker's commissioned mural "Devonport Reserve" in the pop-up park has been defaced by taggers. Photo / Sandra Conchie
Vandals cause tens of thousands of dollars of damage across Tauranga each year by defacing public and private property, including public artworks.
In the financial year ended June 30, 2020, 4014 tags were removed by Tauranga City Council's contractors at a cost of $156,473.01.
This compared to $159, 069,78 in the previous 12 months.
This financial year, the council has already spent more than $65,000 on graffiti removal between July 1 to November 30.
Among those defaced with tags is a four-panelled 3D landscape mural titled "Devonport Reserve - A Walk into Nature" located in downtown Tauranga's Pop-Up Park.
The mural, which includes native bush scenes of kauri trees, natural water sources and a large weta, was created by renowned local artist Shane Walker over several months.
The mural, which was unveiled in October 2018, was commissioned by Mainstreet Tauranga in collaboration with Tauranga City Council.
At the time Walker said he wanted to create a makeshift reserve and an oasis where people could come and spend some time to "destress and unwind".
Alongside the defaced mural, there is a sign which has also been tagged, which reads: "What happens when you ask an amazing nationally recognised artist to create a Giant Panel Mural? This happens."
Walker, from Pāpāmoa, told the Bay of Plenty Times it was "pretty gut-wrenching'' to have one of his artworks targeted in this way.
"The mural was intended to be there for everyone to enjoy," he said.
"It's pretty disappointing, but it tends to be people just passing through and not generally local people who do this sort of vandalism."
Walker said people tagging public artworks was always a risk and that was why his murals were created using anti-graffiti-coated Resene paints.
"Cleaning it off as soon as possible is important to help deter other taggers," he said.
"Fortunately only two or three of my artworks have been tagged in the past six years, but for any artist to have their months of work vandalised is a bit of a kick in guts".
Walker has been a full-time multi-disciplined artist since 2016 and his artwork includes a 35m-long mural at Te Puke Intermediate School, unveiled last month.
He worked with a group of students to brainstorm the concept for the mural, which depicts the school's six houses.
Peter Black, 57, who moved to Tauranga seven months ago, is disgusted and said he cannot understand why anyone would vandalise such a beautiful artwork.
Black said he often spent time in the pop-up park having a smoke, enjoying the sunshine and lots of other people also used to visit the area, but now it's just mainly the "streeties".
The state of the pop-up park had deteriorated over the past seven months, he said,
"There have been more and more tags appearing and more damage to the seats. Someone must have taken a hammer to the seats as there are huge chunks missing out of them.
"Not many people sit here anymore and the place is going downhill and they really need to clean it up. It must be like a kick in the guts for Shane Walker after all his hard work.
"It's bloody disgraceful and it really sad," he said.
Tauranga City Council has confirmed that in the financial year ended June 30, 2020, council contractors removed 4014 tags at a cost of $156,473.01.
This compared to $159, 069,78 in the previous 12 months.
Council's director of Transport Brendan Bisley said the council had already spent $65,347.92 on graffiti removal from July 1 to November 30.
Bisley said the worst hotspots for graffiti were in Arataki, Brookfield, Papamoa, Welcome Bay and state highways, with incidents often peaking in January and February.
Anyone seeing someone tagging or committing any other acts of vandalism should call 111 immediately, he said.
Tauranga City Council offers a free graffiti removal service for residential and small-business property owners unable to remove it themselves.
The Incubator Creative Hub director Simone Anderson said it was "heartbreaking" for any artist to have their work disfigured in this way.
Anderson said it was not only important to hold the tagger or taggers responsible but look at the root causes of this type of vandalism as well.
"Some people may not understand why the artwork is considered a taonga and may feel like everything in life is just ugly, without spearing a thought for the artist," she said.
Anderson said Tauranga City Council used to have a whole department that engaged with community members to create public street art for everyone to enjoy.
That process got buy-in and real ownership from those involved, which often led to artworks that would otherwise be tagged being left alone, she said.
Anderson said she hoped what happened in the pop-up park could be seen as an opportunity to create a project the wider community could become involved in.
Tagging is often more preventable if people not only understand the meaning and stories behind the artwork but they are also part of the process of producing it, she said.
A police spokeswoman said tagging, graffiti or defacing property was an act of intentional damage and is a criminal offence.
"If people wish to make a report you can contact police on 105, alternatively reports of graffiti and vandalism can also be passed onto your local council.
"We urge anyone who sees anything suspicious to call 111 immediately if the person is still there. Damage such as tagging can be reported after the fact on 105."