A threat to school safety in Wiarton has been transformed into something positive, with the graffiti replaced by a spray-painted student work of art.
In late 2013, someone spray-painted threatening graffiti on a storage trailer on Peninsula Shores District School property.
It read "When the lights go out on November 13, the innocent will die."
Half the school stayed home that day and police patrolled the hallways. Nothing happened and the perpetrator was never caught, but the damage to the school's reputation was done.
John Watkins is a Grade 13 student at the school and says, "That day when it did happen was kind of negative. A lot of attention showed up, a lot of police, a lot of news."
Now he and his fellow students are using their graffiti in the name of positivity.
Art teacher Kelly McDougall reached out to professional graffiti artist Billy Goodkat from Owen Sound, who was eager to help students produce some "good" graffiti.
Goodkat says "If you spend the time, then you can produce good things. If you just run around vandalizing the place...that's why there's a lot of negative connotation around [graffiti]."
Planning started shortly after the November threat, but the actual art only took six days to complete.
McDougall explains the inspiration "They talked about what would the opposite be, you know going from dark and into the light and so light plays a huge factor in this mural. They also talked about creating images that would represent our school. The open-mindedness, the phoenix rising from the ashes, the idea of growth and transformation..and i think all of those ideas have made it into the mural."
And students also like the recognition of graffiti - something often misused and misunderstood - as a form of art.
