I always found graffiti to be quite interesting but it always represented a certain dirtiness to me. I think the reason why this message resonates so many people is because graffiti is rooted in rebellion and that in itself is considered “dirty” in our society. I definitely commend the artists for the beautiful pictures and figures they are able to produce but I would never want to live in a neighborhood where graffiti is rampant. There isn’t much about it that is aesthetically pleasing. When I was younger I had a big interested in getting one of the walls in my room painted by a talented graffiti artist and I can say it really did give my room the edge that I was looking for, but after a while it got really old and I felt like it wasn’t something that I could see every single day. I think there is a strong message that exists within their desire to write their names everywhere and become famous through it. Most graffiti artists emerge out of the lower-economic strata and to society they are completely invisible. By tagging their names on public material they are announcing their existence in a big way, and to me, the act is an attack on the structures in place that have disadvantaged them. As for the few graffiti artists that don’t have such a past, their case is a bit complicated but again, the common theme is that they are not happy with the system in place and by destroying it and writing their names on it, they are in fact claiming material parts of the city. The same way that someone who is affluent buys property with money, members of the graffiti world buy through taking what they think belongs to them.
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AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. Archives
April 2015
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