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The Maryland Curiosity Bureau

Who Removes The Graffiti In Baltimore?

Eric Ford uses a Dustless Blaster to remove some spray paint from a Light Rail stop on Howard Street (photo credit: Aron Henkin)
Eric Ford uses a Dustless Blaster to remove spray paint from a Light Rail stop on Howard Street. (photo credit: Aaron Henkin)

They’re a tiny team. But they’re undaunted by the magnitude of the task at hand. Eric Ford and Tony Clark have been working together for more than twenty years on Baltimore’s graffiti removal unit, remediating the city’s graffiti problem, one service request at a time, free of charge. Aaron Henkin and Baltimore Banner reporter Hallie Miller spend a day on the job with the guys, and they ask: What’s it like to do a job you know is going to get undone, over and over again?

Eric Ford (foreground) and Tony Clark (background) travel to service calls with a box truck full of anti-graffiti gear, including different colored paints, chemical solvents, and a Dustless Blaster. (Photo credit: Aaron Henkin)
Eric Ford (foreground) and Tony Clark (background) travel to service calls with a box truck full of anti-graffiti gear, including different colored paints, chemical solvents, and a Dustless Blaster. (Photo credit: Aaron Henkin)

This week's question was asked by listener Kristin Fuller. Kristin peels off flaking bits of Baltimore graffiti and uses it in her mixed media canvases. Here's some of her work.

'Borrowed From Others,' a Kristin Fuller mixed media work in progress, with graffiti paper and oil paint on canvas (photo credit Aaron Henkin)
'Borrowed From Others,' a Kristin Fuller mixed media work in progress, with graffiti paper and oil paint on canvas (photo credit Aaron Henkin)
'Not My Burden To Carry,' a Kristin Fuller mixed media canvas with graffiti, oil paint, sharpie, oil pastels, and charcoal (photo credit: Aaron Henkin)
'Not My Burden To Carry,' a Kristin Fuller mixed media canvas with graffiti, oil paint, sharpie, oil pastels, and charcoal (photo credit: Aaron Henkin)

In this episode, we meet:

Eric Ford, Tony Clark, and Yolanda Cason of Baltimore’s Graffiti Removal Unit

Mixed Media Artist Kristin Fuller

Baltimore Banner reporter Hallie Miller

Aaron creates and produces original radio programs and podcasts for WYPR. His current project is The Maryland Curiosity Bureau. Aaron's neighborhood documentary series, Out of the Blocks, earned the 2018 national Edward R Murrow Award. His past work includes the long-running weekly cultural program, The Signal, and the Smithsonian Folkways Recordings series, Tapestry of the Times. Aaron's stories have aired nationally on NPR's Morning Edition and All Things Considered.