Street Art Vandalism

For centuries, street art has been perceived all around us in subways, schools, building and even in the bathroom. Graffiti however, is a form of street art that most people are aware of and seen before. Graffiti is used as a form of expression for many young children all around the world, but society has many misconceptions regarding graffiti. People interpret graffiti as a form of vandalism and breaking the law, but it’s diverse style of art can create a beautiful way for an individual to express their emotions and bring other perspectives together. This form of expression is not a simple task to accomplish and yet it does not get the positive attention that it should just because society doesn’t understand the conception of graffiti. With
that being said, how can society understand the concept of graffiti and accept it in their society? Graffiti has been around for many generations and has changed during the years. According to Vicki Gach in “Graffiti”, the meaning of graffiti comes from the Italian verb graffiare, meaning “to scratch”. (pg. 285) This form of expression may have rooted from an Italian verb, but it started in New York around the 1960s. Graffiti has been around us for centuries, but society never noticed it. This specific street art has been displayed in music videos and advertisements that are publicized all around the world. For example, in the 1990’s Nike and Sprite started to advertise their product using graffiti to grab the attention of the younger generation to reinforce the notion of graffiti as a form of expression. (Koon-Hwee Kan, 20) Due to these advertisements the younger generation developed a new way to express themselves through an artistic point of view. During, this time graffiti was used as a symbol for gang members to mark their territory from other gang members. They would draw their gang name or symbol on the territory they claim. They often used alphabets written backwards, numbers marked as sets, or letters crossed out to send coded messages to warn intruders. (Koon-Hwee Kan, 20) Just because gang members during the late 1960s used this form of expression to represent something horrific society continues to view graffiti as a “low” level of art expression. Children around the world are changing the form graffiti and putting an end to gang graffiti. Society’s perspective of graffiti is that it’s a form of illegal activity done by the younger generation for no purpose.
They also perceive it as a form of vandalism. Graffiti has become a dominant part of today’s world that society should not have a problem accepting it in their culture. We as a society should stop looking at graffiti as a disruption for youth and start viewing it as an art that belongs in a gallery. According to Tracey E. Bowen in “Graffiti Art: Contemporary Study of Toronto Artist”, graffiti in the 1970’s was considered art only when it was displayed in an art gallery. (35) This is ridiculous because art is displayed all around us and they're all unique in their own individual way . Just because one person may not appreciate graffiti as a form of art work doesn’t mean that other individuals feel the same way. People may view graffiti as being wrong and illegal, and it is however the effect of graffiti is unexplainable. It can cause people all around the world to feel connected. It’s a form of expression for young children and they lean towards it because it's illegal. The young generation leans toward graffiti because it requires taking risk. And every young teenager loves taking risks because they are young and want to be heard. For example, a young man trying to meet the demands of everyday life such as paying bills, and fulfilling commitments at work or school. (Tracey E. Bowen, 35) This young man is dealing with the complications of everyday life
that we all face and to express these frustrations he leans towards creating graffiti in public places so others can relate to his frustration and won’t feel alone. It’s a sense of comfort for many individuals that understand and accept graffiti as an art form. Graffiti offers a form of expression for the young generation. With graffiti young children can express their frustration in school, at home, in work, and many other places. Graffiti can also be used as a coping mechanism for many or used as a memorial depiction of someone that died. According to Koon-Hwee Kan in “Adolescents and Graffiti”, one student drew a figure balled up holding the word “why” in her hands on a school desk because her neighbor committed suicide. (20-21) This individual used the art form graffiti to help express her emotion of loss and created a beautiful art piece. Many individuals use graffiti to express the thoughts and emotions, and they share them on the walls of bathrooms, buildings, and desks to have others interpret it and form their own feelings. It offers the young generation a voice to be heard through drawings or words. The things they would never say can be translated into words or drawings. Afterall, a picture speaks a thoughts words. Graffiti is more than drawing on walls it’s also writings. Another form of graffiti that it used as a form of expression is graffitists, which are writers of graffiti. (Vicki Gach, 285) Graffitists are like poets but they use descriptive phrases, and figures of speech. But what sets them apart from most poets is that they use incorrect grammar and spelling to capture the audience's attention. The incorrect spelling is used to stand out. Vicki Gach in “Graffiti” uses several examples to show how graffitists uses figure of speech in a poem (286); ex: hyperbole: Males are usually basically ignorant. (286) These examples portrays the concept that the young generation is trying to interpret their academic learnings into something they feel can express themselves. This form of street art does not only consist of public graffiti but also private graffiti.
According to Koon-Hwee Kan in “Adolescents and Graffiti”, private art consists of doodling and latrinalia which is graffiti art found near a toilet. (19) We all know what doodling is because we all have done it before in class or at work. We all of sudden drift off and start drawing because we are bored. This is doodling and it's considered graffiti. People consider it graffiti because when you tend to lose focus on what’s going on, an individual may express their boredom or frustration by drawing. No matter how much society tries to forbid graffiti it will always be around us in ways we don’t even
know. To accept graffiti in your life or in a society an individual must understand the true concept of graffiti and be open to it. Society must understand how graffiti can impact a person’s life and can bring others together. Graffiti has its flaws and is imperfect but that doesn’t mean we have to knock it down because theres a few citizens that don’t appreciate it. This art form is a beautiful way to express oneself and bring the society together.