Global Track: A Guide to the Most Dangerous Places Artists Have Gone to Paint

Global Track is our bi-weekly street art column by Rhiannon Platt.

It's always a risk to create illegal public work, but for some, part of the draw is the adrenaline rush that comes with the danger. Additionally, in many graffiti circles, respect is earned through claiming a spot previously believed to be unobtainable. Law enforcement officials, physical challenges, and unsafe environments all present obstacles for street artists.

This list examines, not only specific locations known for their intolerance of graffiti, but also the spaces that artists seek out because of their tricky access, like abandoned buildings and billboards. Take a look at all of the challenges graffiti writers take on just to get up with Global Track: A Guide to the Most Dangerous Places Artists Have Gone to Paint.

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Location: New York

The state of New York makes it difficult enough to get up with their Vandal Squad. Add the danger of heights, and the Brooklyn Bridge is easily one of the most dangerous places to bring a can of paint. Despite the danger (or perhaps because of it), writers Sane, Smith, Lewy, and most recently Judith Supine have all managed to get their names on the bridge's towers.

Notable spots: Crosswalks

Singapore is known for having some of the strictest laws, especially regarding the city's cleanliness. Punishments can range from a $1,000 fine for littering to three years in jail if you are an illegal artist. SKL0 received this three-year sentence when she was arrested in Singapore for street art two years ago.

Location: Veracruz, Mexico

For sheer peril alone, the Metlac Bridge in Mexico is one of the most dangerous places writers have braved. It is ranked as one of the highest bridges in the world at 430 feet. Pictures of people clinging to the walls above a canyon are enough to make you queasy.

Notable spots: 5Pointz, Brooklyn; Bat Cave, Brooklyn

Blood rushing to your head, arms extended for hours—for the physical labor alone, rollers made from the top down are tough to use. Add the difficulty of completing intricate text upside down, and you have a true challenge.

Notable spots: Along the JMZ subway lines and Brooklyn-Queens Expressway, New York; Highways, Los Angeles

With great risk comes great reward. Not only are billboards dangerous for their sheer height, but they also pose a problem of visibility. If you get caught painting a billboard, which is easy considering there's little to offer cover, there is only one exit. Pieces on billboards always involve scaling a ladder, if not an entire building.

Notable spots: Kabul

Like Singapore, Afghanistan is known for its strict laws that make it particularly risky to complete pieces, let alone anything complex. And yet, in a country where women have minimal freedom, female artists like Shamsia Hassani and Malina Suliman are consistently challenging these notions of what women can and cannot do.

Notable spots: Williamsburg Bridge, Brooklyn

Because of the consistent traffic, freeways and their adjacent areas are highly sought after by writers who want maximum exposure. Steady traffic also increases the chances that a cop will catch you in the act.

Location: New York

Since the '90s, New York has been a difficult place to paint trains because of the notorious Vandal Squad, who keep the city and subways graffiti-free. Today, spotting a painted train is rare, and the MTA cracks down on anyone who brings a can of paint to the subways.

Location: Bethlehem, Palestine

Due to the politicized nature of the West Bank Barrier, this spot in Palestine is inherently risky. Writers are in peril from cops as well as citizens. For example, the work of How and Nosm in Palestine was covered with spraypaint by someone who disagreed with their message.

Location: London

Much like the NYPD and the MTA, the powers that be have made it difficult for people to write on trains in London's Tube system. Also, the popularization of CCTV in London makes it easy for graffiti writers to get caught. Much like in New York, it is rare to find a painted train in the British city.

Location: Over 170 cities

Messing with those with money creates a whole other level of daring, as is the case with graffiti writers that target the advertising company Cemusa. The group owns bus shelter ads across New York and other cities, including Madrid, Barcelona, and Lisbon. Through the D.I.Y. attitude that is inherent to graffiti, artists have found ways to hack into these ads, making use of a legally perilous, but clean display space for works.

Notable spots: McDonald's

The city of Miami is a reminder of the paradoxes that exist between legal street art and illegal graffiti. The Wynwood Walls festival welcomes artists from across the globe to paint each year in the Miami neighborhood. However, outside of this haven, the rest of the city isn't as tolerant. Last year, headlines were made when Reefa, a young teenager, was killed by police for painting an abandoned McDonalds.

Location: Sydney

City officials come down hardest on those who deface internationally recognized buildings, such as Sydney's Opera House. Two peace activists were fined $151,000 and sentenced with nine months periodic detention for spraypainting the landmark. Over five years later, Greenpeace repelled over the facade to share a similar message, risking not only a hefty fine, but their lives.

Notable spots: Along the Los Angeles River

Gangs and police already make Los Angeles a tough place to get up. The city also has vigilantes, who have been captured on film in movies like Infamy and Vigilante Vigilante: The Battle for Expression. Vigilantes take the law into their own hands, buffing illegal graffiti themselves. They are also known to be as obsessive as the graffiti writers they pursue. For an added bonus, LA's laws have also come down against legal murals with a decade-long moratorium on public murals that has only recently become more lenient.

Notable spots: Ma On Shan District

Hong Kong is one of many cities that prides itself on cleanliness, which means a strict policy against graffiti. For instance, a sentence of two weeks in prison for the crime was instead replaced with a hefty fine of $870,000. This still does not deter artists, some of whom use graffiti for politicized statements, like Tangerine and Tsang Tsou Choi.

Notable spots: Moscow, St. Petersburg

Russia is known for coming down hard against political dissidents (see: Pussy Riot). Notoriously, in 2009 members of the street art group Voina were arrested for painting a giant phallus on the St. Petersburg Bridge. The pair did not see jail time, instead paying a fine of 300,000 rubles. Similar to in Hong Kong, when the government tries suppress graffiti, this often fuels more political works.