Helsinki deputy mayor and former minister caught painting illegal graffiti inside tunnel

It is not often that you find a deputy mayor of a European capital who has a personal vocation for art, so much so that he executes it himself. Still less can it happen that the deputy mayor of the European capital has such a passion for street art that he himself is a graffiti artist himself. And fewer are the chances that the politician in question will be pinched for expressing himself where it is not allowed. Yet this all happened in Helsinki: Deputy Mayor Paavo Arhinmäki, who is in charge of culture for Finland’s capital city and was also the northern European state’s minister of culture from 2011 to 2014, painted a mural in a Helsinki train tunnel with the help of a friend of his, but he did it illegally and was caught in the act, so much so that the city he administers was forced to clean it up in an operation that cost about 3.500 euros.

The bizarre story is told by the Associated Press, which also reports on how the deputy mayor is now also in the eye of the storm: not only does he risk legal action (the offenses for which he may be charged are those of vandalism and possibly also interruption of a public service: authorities are investigating whether his arrest by police resulted in the suspension of rail traffic, since the tunnel where he left his work is regular passage of freight trains to and from the port of Helsinki), but he is also facing criticism from much of his city, which is now calling for his resignation. Arhinmäki, born in 1976, was arrested last Friday just after completing his work, inspired by graffiti in 1970s New York. The photo of the work was published by the newspaper Helsingin Sanomat.

Curiously, Finland’s capital, the Associated Press reports, spends about 650 thousand euros a year to remove illegal graffiti, so it is only natural that a section of Arhinmäki’s fellow citizens are now calling for his head, even though theformer minister, who is a member of the Vasemmistoliitto party (“Left Alliance,” a Social Democratic-inspired formation) has already made it known that he will not resign, despite apologizing for his act, which he called “stupid.” “As a child,” he explained in a long post published on his Facebook page where he also described the content of his work, “I used to get excited about graffiti like almost every kid in Pasila. Pasila was the cradle of graffiti in Finland, there was a train tunnel where we would go to see the paintings during recess and after school. Now that there have been legal graffiti walls in Helsinki for 15 years, I paint with my old childhood friends. Besides the permissible walls, there are many places in Helsinki that are not officially allowed, but painting them doesn’t bother anyone. We noticed the concrete walls of the train tunnel that goes to the Vuosaari port near Vantaala field during our bike rides. It is a place that hardly anyone cares about. The place reminds me a bit of old Pasila, of course Vuosaari Harbor is off the grid and completely quiet. My friend and I realized that there are almost no freight trains on the Vuosaari Harbor track in midsummer. So we painted a mural over some old graffiti with the idea of Pasila. In the center are the Pasila tower buildings and the silhouette of Pasila in the background. After a couple of hours we were done. We cleaned up the empty paint cans and were about to take pictures when we heard the ’tick’ of the clock. Trains run even in midsummer. At the same time some guards appeared on the bridge, yelling at us that it was not worth trying to escape. They caught us well: we were talking to them while waiting for the police to arrive to record our information. What a stupid thing we did! Somehow I was persuaded by the idea that you can make paintings on concrete walls away from people’s eyes. [...] It was an absolutely thoughtless thing to do. And it was stupid to paint there when there are also walls allowed. I am so sorry for this stupid act of mine, and I ask for forgiveness.”

Pictured: the mural (photo Helsingin Sanomat) and Paavo Arhinmäki.

Helsinki deputy mayor and former minister caught painting illegal graffiti inside tunnel

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