Who owns our famous street art?
Local artist Katie Whyte explores a question that’s not on enough of our minds – who owns our famous street art? She shares a few things we can all learn about valuing the work around us.
15 June 2022
Written by Katie Whyte
Photography courtesy Katie Whyte
Thanks to projects by the Toowoomba Regional Council, First Coat Festival and private commissions on commercial buildings, Toowoomba is decorated with large scale works of art and laneways of colour. We’ve proudly become home to one of Queensland’s largest outdoor galleries of public art.
Images of our famous street art frequently pop up in magazines, blogs and social media feeds. Over the years, this evolving display has become an iconic part of our city’s identity and features the original work of an impressive list of local, national and international artists.
But who owns this public art collection and who has the right to photograph and use it?
Megan Ralstin writes in the Art Law Journal that “placing art in a public place or allowing it to be publicly viewed does not change the essential nature of the artist’s copyright”. That is, any original work of creative authorship – such as a mural – becomes copyrighted the moment the artist’s brush touches the wall. Speaking as an artist not a lawyer, this essentially means it is the artist who owns the copyright of their work unless these rights are sold specifically as a licence. This ensures artists have the right to control what their work is associated with. Considering this, permission should be sought before images of public murals are used by a secondary source.
What does this mean? Well, anyone is free to photograph public art and murals – given they are not trespassing! How these images are used afterwards can be defined as personal, editorial, or commercial applications. Personal use of these images on social media is a great way to share your love of our amazing collection of street art, but don’t forget to also share the artist’s name. Editorial use is similar in that it aims to educate, is not for profit and should provide the name of the artist alongside any images of their work. This credits the artist with the authorship of their mural, whether it is the central focus of the photo or in the background of a staged shoot.
Commercial use includes any photographic content taken for businesses on their social media, website and print media, such as flyers and business cards. Including elements of street art or public murals in your business imagery is similar to using licensed music in a television commercial. To bring light to the misuse of copyright, social media platforms such as Instagram are restricting the use of licensed music on business accounts. Currently no such restrictions are available to protect visual artists. Featuring the work of an artist without their consent does not consider the creator’s right to control how their work is represented and reproduced, and may put businesses at risk of breaching the legal copyright.
As an art lover, the easiest way to support the creators of street art is to credit them when sharing images of their work for personal or editorial use. Tagging the artist on social media alerts them when images of their work are being used online and allows others to discover their art. All murals will have the artist’s name on them, often their Instagram handle, and sometimes the artwork title and year it was created. Businesses, professional photographers and marketing agencies should always seek artists’ consent and be prepared for licensing fees before using images of their artwork in a commercial setting. If you are unable to find their contact details, reach out to others in the local creative community, as supporting fellow artists is a common goal we share.
Most photographers, whether amateur or professional, do not misuse artist copyright intentionally; they just see the value in our colourful and expressive street art and wish to celebrate it. But it is this value that artists bring to our city that needs to be protected. In order to support a thriving arts scene, we need to place value on both our street art and the creators of it. We can do this by always remembering to credit artists for their work and being clear with our intentions on how imagery of our famous public art is used in the future.
A version of this article first appeared in the Spring 2021 edition of our free street newspaper. We thought it was so great, we’ve shared it again.
