Marcus Barnes: ‘Graffiti art can be a positive force’

Ex-train-tagger Marcus Barnes found himself arrested for ‘encouraging’ crime when he produced a graffiti magazine. Here he tells the story of the three-year nightmare that ensued and examines our contradictory attitudes to the art formOn Monday 12 December 2011 a three-year ordeal, which my barrister later described as an “Orwellian nightmare”, began. I woke up to a text message from my sister: “Marcus your [sic] gonna go mad. The police are here and they’re t