Pacific Island Presbytarian Church near Karangahape road. Photo: RNZ / Luka Forman
A Presbyterian minister in Auckland says it is "disappointing" to have the roof of his church graffitied - but it is just some of the latest tagging in a more than year-long spree across the city.
The word 'pork' was written in large white letters on the Pacific Island Presbyterian Church's roof near Karangahape Road about the end of January, minister Kon-Tiki Makani said.
Auckland Council spokesperson Grant Muir said there were 989 incidents of the pork/porker tag in Auckland since the start of last year.
It appeared as though multiple taggers used it as part of their tag names across the country, Muir said.
But Cameron Hunt, who filmed and directed the YouTube documentary Full Time Pork, released late last year, said all of the pork/porker tags were done by one person.
Building on the corner of Upper Queen Street and Alex Evans Street in Auckland CBD. Photo: RNZ / Luka Forman
Graffiti was like a full-time job for the anonymous artist, Hunt said.
"It doesn't stop, it's all day every day, all night every night... his whole life is centred around doing this."
The artist's ultimate goal was to be seen, whether in a positive or negative light, he said. "Graffiti kind of is just like 'I was here' and he kind of just takes that to the limit."
The fact that it was illegal was what drew people to it, he said. "It wouldn't be graffiti if it wasn't hated... so that illegal aspect definitely drives people, it's exciting, there's a huge rush."
Hunt said it was rare for a tagger to become recognised outside of the graffiti world in the way 'pork' had.
"He's so prolific in that way that he crossed kind of into everyday people.
"I'll be at a bar and a yoga teacher will be like 'Have you seen that pork thing around?' and that's just very uncommon."
RNZ sought comment from the anonymous graffiti artist through Hunt, but did not receive a reply.
Brentwood Avenue Seventh Day Adventist Church near Dominion road in Mt Eden. Photo: RNZ / Luka Forman
Makani said this was not the first time his church was the victim of vandalism. "We clean, and then all of a sudden, next week - a new graffiti."
Makani said other buildings in the area were not hit as often, and he had a message for the person responsible for the graffiti.
"Please don't do this again, if you want to talk to us, come talk to us, tell us what you want, but don't graffiti our properties again."
Muir said the best course of action was to remove graffiti or report it for removal via Auckland Council's website or through its contact centre on 09 3010101.
The overall cost of cleaning graffiti in Auckland over the past five years was between $4.2 million and $4.4m a year, he said.
