Graffiti: Meaning The Community

Graffiti has been used many times in history to preserve and show political and religious ideas of the past. Street artists are preserving the history that is deemed “illegal” at this time. Graffiti itself is history, and it tells stories as well as preserving cities and adding a creative aspect to everyday life. The “...first forms of scripture and storytelling … were through drawings on walls. Stories passed through generations… were preserved on rocks or walls.” (Lloyd, Alexis). Now street artists are simply doing the same, whether it’s murals, tags, or people just messing around; They are preserving the unique cultures that we have today, or trying to make a name for themselves through art, or portray a political message. 85% of graffiti is just tags. (Akbar, Airfa). People's names or words made to look interesting. People trying to preserve their name through art. And this is considered a crime. Splashing your political views on a building through a mural to some people is offensive and the fact that this is illegal is a violation of the 1st amendment. Making graffiti or street art illegal is limiting an expression of people's ideas and religion.

Graffiti has been around for more than half a decade and practiced worldwide. However there is debate between whether it is a form of art or vandalism. Graffiti artists’ debate that many do not understand the reason most graffiti artist take the risk of incarceration, fines, injuries, and in some cases death to paint a wall. A graffiti artist can have the simple desire to become recognized, or to create a piece that speaks to their audience as a form of self expression. Because graffiti is associated with gangs and acts of destruction to some many cannot see the history and importance graffiti can have on a worldwide scale. Due to the fact that graffiti is usually produced illegally, meaning it is

Graffiti is a hobby that many people loved to do, but the other half of most people dislike graffiti and want it gone.

The value of any message or work of art, whether it is hanging on the wall of a gallery or a subway, lies on the intensity of the artist’s or vandal’s beliefs. Graffiti is an uncertain issue in respect to its virtue. While the voice of the individual must never be lost in a society of shouts growing larger and louder every second; graffiti is such a public medium that its integrity must be of great concern. Graffiti is a vast wasteland of indefinite opinions. Foremost graffiti is illegal and a form of vandalism, it invades peoples privacy and destroys their property. However, graffiti can be a means by which one may permanently express one’s self. It has the potential to convey a powerful, relevant

Just as Hip Hop is a form of art, so is graffiti. It allows individuals to express one’s feelings. Graffiti is one of the main pillars of Hip Hop . Graffiti is used as a way of expressing one’s feelings about what the individual is undergoing. This can be political and social issues such as racial profiling.Graffiti artists use spray paint to create symbolized images or expressions on billboards, subways and building walls. Although this is an obvious form of expression to many people, however to police, it is a form of “vandalism.” Vandalism is an action which leads to destruction or damage to public or private property. According to the Museum of The City, an exhibition written by Greg Eickmer, “Graffiti is generally viewed as

In the summer of 2013, a graffiti artist by the name of 'Lady Pink' had police barge into her house in Queens and arrest her husband for vandalism. They took her art supplies, photo archives, and many of her prized possessions. She had to sit there, helpless, watching police take away her things. In today's world right now, expressing yourself creatively is one of the most important things you can do to help figure out who you are. A part of creative expression is art. Art makes people happy. Graffiti falls into the art category. For some people, graffiti is what they do to express themselves. Graffiti is art and shouldn't be illegal. Expressing yourself creatively shouldn't be a crime.

Graffiti can be found everywhere and anywhere. It is a way for people to express themselves and be creative in a public manner. It shows how passionate and talented they can be when it comes to drawing or tagging and have it displayed as a piece of art for everyone to see. Graffiti goes way back to the ancient times and is now very well known in the modern days which makes more and more people interested and fascinated by them. It can be used in different types of ways. Many artists can either spray paint, carve, paste, or stencil them on a surface. From how we see them today they are usually images of random cartoons, big bubbly letters, vintage black and whites or inspirational quotes. Virtually anything colorful or not and big that can be easily spotted. Graffiti is more superior to be known as art than vandalism because it is a self expressing act. People need to be open minded about the images they see and look at the message behind it or else they will immediately criticize and say it is vandalizing property.

Graffiti is the act of inscribing or drawing on walls for the purpose of communicating a message to the general public. The term comes from the Greek term "Graphein," which means to write. Graffiti has been around since men first started drawing pictures in caves. However, the focus of this paper is not on pre-historic or amateur graffiti, but on the modern hip-hop graffiti movement that began in the late 1960 's. The graffiti has two versions: a "legal" aspect, in which artists are able to spray paintings and murals of great spectacle and technical. The illegal side, is where they express their painting in public spaces such as schools, metros, trains, posters, and wall Streets, etc. Graffiti are a poor choice for people who practiced this objective because it deny people in follow good roads which is seen a bad self-expression and they also may be expensive, putting pressure on low-income families. Controversial, secrecy, and taboo are some points that connect with graffiti argument where graffiti has changed over the years.

While waiting for on a train, the mobile art museum known as graffiti passes you. Graffiti has been integrated into the everyday life regardless of city size or laws. By definition, graffiti is any type of writing or drawing scribbled, scratched or sprayed onto a surface in public. Freehanded graffiti has evolved into a premeditated version known as street art. Graffiti and street art allows artists worldwide to express themselves in their entirety. However, these forms of art are considered vandalism because the majority of graffiti is painted on buildings without permission. This causes debate on who owns public space, expressionism, and consent.

New York City in the 1970’s was the birthplace for an expression called graffiti. The artform known as graffiti was a way for artist much like myself to express themselves to the world using a painting, mural of their name, or characters. Leaving an anonymous work of art leaves the world wondering. The idea of art being spray painted on the side of subway cars and practically broadcasted to the world was profound. On the other hand, the state and city found graffiti as defacing property and vandalism; however, an artist like myself does not see it that way. Due to many hardships faced by communities on the streets of NYC most teenagers and adults see graffiti as a way to paint their town with their story. As far as vandalism goes, you can

The first reason graffiti should be legal is that by making it illegal to do it’s a form of censorship. This is bad because it takes away from our freedom and self expression. Even the first ones to make modern graffiti such as Taki didn’t tag the walls of subway cars with ill intent but rather to express themselves. Taki pioneered the graffiti movement, with many following in his footsteps. Why would they do this? To express themselves! There are only a few cases of people tagging walls with ill intentions.

Graffiti provides people with a creative art form outdoors. Many people want to get rid of graffiti but it is what represents lives, thoughts, and even culture. If you get rid of graffiti you are getting rid of these too. Art is expressing how you feel through color, picture, and even deep messages and graffiti is an art form.

Graffiti is a tremendous problem when it is used to deface property. Why do people create graffiti? Gang symbols, are how gangs show territory, just as animals would. City 's that allow gang symbols are supposedly working against the interest of the people and are instead supporting gangs. Some people use graffiti as a way to show their political views. Sometimes the opinions may not always be the nicest though. People use graffiti to express their love for someone or something, but even if it is meant to express good it is seen as a bad thing or illegal most of the time. (Kershaw)

In their essay, Cameron McAuliffe and Kurt Iveson make an excellent point; many people seem to treat graffiti as thing rather than a concept: “Despite the tendency in the regulation of urban space to treat graffiti as a singular form, in reality graffiti extends through many different forms, with writers and artists informed by myriad motivations” (p.129). Graffiti is in fact, too broad a term that spans into many different subcultures, and encompasses many different styles.

Graffiti has put a major impact on the way people look at their everyday life. It was not used so much here in the United States but was used overseas. Overseas, graffiti, or street art, was used or played as a sport, just like baseball is Americas sport. There are different laws that are put over there than what there are here. They can get away with some of the things that they paint or make over there. If we tried some of that type of work over here, we would get in trouble and possibly serve time for vandalizing someone else’s property. There are many biased outlooks on graffiti, but it should be considered art in all places because of all the time, effort, and design the artist put into their work.