No Free Walls: Art and Gentrification Collide In Bushwick

NO FREE WALLS is an in-depth look at Brooklyn's changing landscape, through the eyes of Joseph Ficalora, the founder and inadvertent art curator of The Bushwick Collective. Joe, son of Italian immigrants, grew up in Bushwick, a neighborhood in Brooklyn once ravaged by drugs, neglect and violence.
He lost his mother to cancer as an adult and rather than going into deep depression, he decided to honor his parents and the neighborhood that raised him. He started contacting muralists from all over the world and 5 years later, Bushwick is one of the fastest growing gentrified neighborhoods in New York.
As advertisers and new residents flood Bushwick, longtime residents struggle to keep up with rising rents and changing landscape. Complex News Documentaries asks: Can a community thriving off its native creativity survive all the change? Will the spreading wave of gentrification whitewash the now world-renowned art and who is at fault?
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COMPLEX is a community of creators and curators, armed with the Internet, committed to surfacing and sharing the voices and conversations that define our new America. Our videos exemplify convergence culture, exploring topics that include music, sneakers, style, sports and pop culture through original shows and Complex News segments. Featuring your favorite celebrities, authoritative commentary, and a unique voice, our videos make culture pop.

[@blu1509]

The bad part about Gentrification in Brooklyn is that it affects the older residence like myself financially and it's very difficult to live

[@mikeyagron3466]

being from Bushwick, I enjoyed this very much. As an artists I love the work but I have mixed feelings about since it was a catalyst for my neighborhood becoming overpriced

[@replicamargielas4186]

this is the reason why I subscribed to complex G

[@billycraig4171]

Oops there goes the neighborhood.. Oh won't you be my neighbor?...Damon I got to live with a bunch o white folks.

[@westandeast1024]

Great documentary. Thanks, Rafael! Sad that improving a neighborhood by beautifying it causes it to become unaffordable for those who live there.

[@bmonta5992]

If your walls could talk they'd tell you it's too late

[@mildmagician2764]

Your destiny accepted your fate

[@phuckyoo8443]

dissolving at this rate aint great

[@stefanlangan]

great production...captured some heart, soul and meaning. thanks.

[@keisi1574]

A man told his young son to dig a hole to plant a small tree in. He told the boy to make it one foot deep and one foot wide. The old man left and came back to find the boy had dug a hole two feet deep and two feet wide. He asked the boy why he dug it twice as deep and wide as he was told. He said he thought if one foot was good then two feet seemed twice as good. His dad said "No. Digging a one foot hole was progress; digging a two foot hole was going too deep and too wide and would cause the sapling to be buried and die. It is possible to go beyond progress and instead, you're wasting time, energy and resources and...damage is occurring...which must be undone...for true healthy progress to occur."

[@MrKing8050]

love these exclusive docs

[@brianhanleyvideos]

Killer job, Rafael. This was amazing.

[@RushOrbit]

hey you're that guy

[@ARMOSPHERE]

Good job complex 🙌🏻

[@xVacant429]

Residence that have lived there for more than 20 years are moving out due to overpriced housing. $4000 for a 2 bedroom apartment! Come on now it got sad and ridiculous.

[@xxxxbigrich5752]

Believe me I understand where you guys in complex are coming from but I lived on south 5 and keap my family lived there 40 years my mother was born in the same apartment in 1936 I was born in 68 and I lived there my daughter 85 and we lived thru all the hard times as well as good but since we were forced out the same 3 bedroom apartment were we lived is now $5500 a month are you serious.. so now the hood doesn't belong to the people who lived there now it belongs to money.. Gentlefulfukk that's what they did to my hood. If you want to do a program do one of that. The systemactic removal of humans in BROOKLYN I'll pay to see that.

[@mharden1107]

man Brooklyn is goona be full of white hipsters and yuppies in the next ten years its all ready happening tryign to make the hood better my ass trying to make the hood white they take are slang are houses are culture are food are drinks and what do we get shit

[@xxxxbigrich5752]

That's right man!! It's not ours no more. They are taking over our neighborhoods and they remove us by making it impossible to pay the rent and live there. Better for who?

[@Exile_Sky]

Broke culture ain't black culture man. Been broke my whole life, lived in a broke place through crack heads and stabbings, shootings and junkies. And now the city is kicking us all out because our landlord failed to fix the run off drains and had us breathing in sewage for 8 years. I'm fucking learning, your neighborhoods, they are never yours. You just fucking live there.... It's fucked but it's true.

[@xxxxbigrich5752]

Exile_Sky That's really not what I wanted to come across. What I wanted to say is that for instance I live in the Bronx new York that is my entire life but now since the cleaned up a little cause the crime is still there, now landlords an charge obscene amounts of rent come on their removing blocks of family's to raise rents and in my CITY it's out of hand.. A studio that was once $750 per month in the Bronx is now $1500 per month so if I don't have a college education I can't afford to live cause it's either rent or food. What I'm upset about is hell yeah the neighborhood is ours we have lived there since the early 1900 my grandmother was born here in 1912 so yeah.. That's what I'm Pissed about expensive shitty coffee and obscene rents..

[@ornamentalyouth]

where exactly are you from?

[@ossamaabou-zied2697]

Beautiful, Beautiful video. Much respect to complex for putting stuff like that out man.

[@hueykhalidX]

Who in the hell buys something because they saw an ad on a wall???!!!

[@D4NIB4BE]

A very passionate doc. I really enjoyed it...thank you, Complex. :)

[@jbreslin8040]

Born and raised in Brooklyn NY. I really hate what's happening to my home. The foundation of community that made Brooklyn has been taken away in exchange for dollars

[@AyeMatteBlack]

Most of the comments are so insensitive to the issue and have barely any substance.. I live in the Bronx and the same thing is happening so I can FEEL the pain when Joe speaks about his mother & trying to find a different lane to take his mind off of the pain or when he talks about the companies and organizations putting billboards over a person's hard work. Gentrification is a issue that isn't looked at seriously because it's about money and it won't bother many because it affects those WITHOUT (as always). The art has a message behind it, a story. And all of it is being overshadowed by big advertising companies putting up ads causing people that were already there to be pushed out...wow... As a black man the only other thing that this reminds me of is Columbus day & Thanksgiving.... #StayWoke

[@lovegoddess3912]

Mattt so true well said..profit over people. will the human race ever evolve? peace love n light stay strong

[@Klim0vski]

proud to live in Bushwick bc of dope shit like this. well done bro

[@supremeprice2962]

good job complex, i feel very educated and inspired

[@Pdubya69GS]

Exactly at 11:38 when the guy says "im sorry, it's sad to say, but when the rich kids move in, the advertiser's follow because they're profitable" the video literally got interrupted by an advertiser. Nice timing KZbin. Coincidence?🤔

[@uchennaagwu9283]

I saw a youtube video about two weeks ago on Bushwick arts and i fell in love. Am in New Jersey and would be visiting Bushwick to see them for myself. Cant wait to take photos there..

[@naominesmith1437]

Uchenna Agwu please don’t. These people are “beautifying” the area in the name of taking homes away from true residents for condos and ignoring the wishes of the true residents of bushwick. Bushwick was a dangerous place that the community saved, and now these artists are taking it away in the name of “self expression”. Please do not support that.

[@VQuezadaCarrasco]

Excelente trabajo Complex.

[@nechethekid]

Reaaaally reaaaaally interesting!

[@saywordstaz]

Beautiful doc raf! 🙌🏽

[@thedta1network14]

My daughter was born in Bushwick at Wycoff Hospital. 4-28-11. Great Doc

[@willuzi831]

After the story of his mother dying retro music plays that fucked up

[@nickg8717]

I came back from being on vacation in the BX a few weeks ago and NY in general is just changing

[@roeb3185]

Loved this

[@velscig]

Beautiful

[@SunSound7]

Gentrification of neighborhoods is no doubt inevitable but creativity and love will always exist because it is in the spirit of humans. That is a very moving heartfelt documentary. Well done Rafael. Love Pops

[@bobbykumarsehgal1939]

Joe is the fucking man!!!!!!

[@bradleiby]

i love this!

[@ciegosanchez5289]

clicked so quick because it said original... never see that too much these days

[@dawsmuse5899]

hell Yea good as doc. learned alot

[@Kiky812]

I lived in bushwuck for 3 months, I love the area...

[@DemonkaiMugen]

i spent half my childhood in the stuy and in bushwick. fun but rough memories

[@judasfariu]

New Zealand yeyahh ...!! Getting and giving love all over the world ...

[@nzmiller111]

Sick!!!

[@MrMalingenue]

Very interesting

[@Godlovesugly.]

much love

[@xxalex613]

Living in east/ brownsville area you already know that this shit is happening here grinds my gears

[@davidgalea1890]

Daaaaamn, journalism still exists!

[@avery8677]

subscribed

[@iLLestTv]

So we gone ignore how Cudi might be dropping the next "Control" 😎😎

[@Sanction8]

Ayyyyyyyy

[@iLLestTv]

Olitronix W

[@lyrikill101]

yes

[@Michael_713]

keep making more of these supreme/street wear brand documentaries them shits lit

[@MLGlikeTHAT]

at 17:00 i really thought that was cm punk lol

[@jesussavesnyc]

Bushwick Collective! 🙏🏼

[@lallilalli8063]

artists are not to blame completely for gentrification but that doesn't mean they cant be complacent with gentrification. In the end gentrification is colonization. What would've made the neighborhood "better" would've been that the communities would've been invested in by the city and the already existing culture, like investing in housing, providing affordable housing for the existing communities in the neighborhood, reparations and youth support. Not coffee shops, shutting down local stores and bodegas to replace them with new ones, displacing the existing communities, and catering to tourism. That kind of "change" is colonial, it further continues the displacement of Black, Indigenous and poor working class folks, to profit off the land and the people. It doesn't center those that had suffered all those years from state sanctioned violence.

[@MasterTSayge]

I hate to say it but Bushwick will be full of stuck up rich cliquesh yuppies who don't know each other. My neighbor in DC 1996 was great (the Warf). We all knew each other and it's the place where strangers became friends every night. I loved those days. Now in 2018, all you see are uppity ppl on their phones, stuck up rude females, thirsty sexually frustrated violent dudes, and bunch of closed minded cliques everywhere, as well as a lack of community. I go to my old neighborhood and I'll say good evening to the people and EVERYONE just gives me a dirty look, like "Do I know you?" Everyone now is shallow and It's sad because I had great memories of the area. I got my passport and Visa and moved to a neighborhood in Rio Brazil where my other childhood friends been living. They told me to move away from that neighborhood years ago, the people there aren't right, go to Rio. I see why Rio is a great spor, the people here reminds me of the vibrant neighborhood I use to grow up in. Regentrify Sucks!

[@gareonconley1956]

3:00 "broken bottles everywhere people pissin on the stairs you know they just dont care" is that line mentioning this time? i mean the song is also really old im just 15 so idk much about culture

[@ReggieMCH]

there wasn't no beepers in those days. only pay phones in the street

[@kwop9474]

same thing is happening in barrio logan in San Diego

[@DedHedZed]

trying to push us out. push back

[@samlipmanstern]

DOPE

[@tutornick]

Power to Joe

[@neticz7]

Bomb it!!

[@gladiatorbeastboy]

I need this dude to movie to la

[@tehjamerz]

I hope this is good

[@tehjamerz]

+Rafael Moses i enjoyed it

[@goodcheen]

#GOOD

[@jesussaves2043]

I wish they had Mos Def and Talib Kweli at the Block Party

[@lovegoddess3912]

WuTang Gyarados oooh that would've been nice

[@escokicks]

This is what happened to silver lake in Los Angeles

[@43y35]

Makes me wanna go visit..

[@KungFuChess]

Nice art on the walls but now your rent costs triple.

[@projectruntz9844]

4:30 IS John Doe

[@bigben1986]

Yeah joe is cool but joe only invites famous artist not the artist whom are unknown

[@BRad-os6bk]

word but how many of them besides Joe are REALLY from Brooklyn?

[@2real4u97]

Hate the Nee Bushwick, And mark these words if they keep trying to push Original Bushwick residents out something ugly going to happen

[@xavierflores5967]

The hood aint the same no more

[@Daddy_drift300]

So what if they would just spray paint the advertisements so the city would not mind and there would still be ads ?? IG@ (Jesse12m)

[@jesuschrist1602]

Same reason they put a McDonald's next to the pyramids

[@john_wayne]

Was ist das für 1 Wall?

[@Tamurakafka]

Diese eine

[@GenreFluid]

The Conor Nation

[@GenreFluid]

I still prefer The Jimmi Hendrix

[@PayKay]

Uploaded to complex news aswell for that extra youtube money. Dislike

[@203smokeweed]

Mexicos paying bruh

[@finapdz1697]

first

[@divinummusic4665]

go get yourself a cookie

[@robbiedelaney1444]

A comedian hasn't got as much stand up as Joe and the Bushwick collective. Pause.✊🎨📉📈

[@mree.9794]

I thought this was about like actual art but it's graffiti 😪