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{{Short description|Drawings and paintings on walls}}{{Other uses}}{{pp|small=yes}}{{Original research|date=March 2019}}File:Former roof felt factory in Tampere Jun2012 003.jpg|thumb|350px|An abandoned roof felt factory with graffiti in Santalahti, Tampere, FinlandFinlandGraffiti (plural; singular graffiti or graffito, the latter rarely used except in archeology) is art that is written, painted or drawn on a wall or other surface, usually without permission and within public view. Graffiti ranges from simple written words to elaborate wall paintings, and has existed since ancient times, with examples dating back to ancient Egypt, ancient Greece, and the Roman Empire (see also mural).Graffiti is a controversial subject. In most countries, marking or painting property without permission is considered by property owners and civic authorities as defacement and vandalism, which is a punishable crime, citing the use of graffiti by street gangs to mark territory or to serve as an indicator of gang-related activities.WEB,www.lapdonline.org/get_informed/content_basic_view/23471, Why Gang Graffiti Is Dangerous—Los Angeles Police Department, www.lapdonline.org, en, 19 February 2018, 20 February 2018,www.lapdonline.org/get_informed/content_basic_view/23471," title="web.archive.org/web/20180220033252www.lapdonline.org/get_informed/content_basic_view/23471,">web.archive.org/web/20180220033252www.lapdonline.org/get_informed/content_basic_view/23471, dead, Graffiti has become visualized as a growing urban “problem” for many cities in industrialized nations, spreading from the New York City subway system and Philadelphia in the early 1970s to the rest of the United States and Europe and other world regions.BOOK, Encyclopedia of the City, Caves, R. W., Routledge, 2004, 315,

Etymology

File:Graffiti Kom Ombo.JPG|thumb|right|Ancient graffito in the Kom Ombo TempleKom Ombo Temple“Graffiti” (usually both singular and plural) and the rare singular form “graffito” are from the Italian word graffiato (“scratched“).The Italian singular form “graffito” is so rare in English (except in specialist texts on archeology) that it is not even recorded or mentioned in some dictionaries, for example the Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English and the Cambridge Advanced Learner’s Dictionary.WEB, Publishers, HarperCollins, The American Heritage Dictionary entry: graffiti,www.ahdictionary.com/word/search.html?q=graffiti, 2024-03-26, www.ahdictionary.com, The term “graffiti” is used in art history for works of art produced by scratching a design into a surface. A related term is “sgraffito”, which involves scratching through one layer of pigment to reveal another beneath it. This technique was primarily used by potters who would glaze their wares and then scratch a design into them. In ancient times graffiti were carved on walls with a sharp object, although sometimes chalk or coal were used. The word originates from Greek —graphein—meaning “to write”.WEB,www.etymonline.com/word/graffiti, graffiti {{!, Origin and meaning of graffiti by Online Etymology Dictionary|website=www.etymonline.com|language=en|access-date=19 February 2018}}

History

{{See also|Graffiti terminology|Roman graffiti|Megalithic graffiti symbols}}File:Rufus est caricature villa misteri Pompeii.jpg|thumb|right|Ancient Pompeii graffito caricature of a politician. Villa of the MysteriesVilla of the Mysteries File:Graffitti, Castellania, Malta.jpeg|thumb|right|Figure graffito, similar to a relief, at the Castellania, in Valletta ]]The term graffiti originally referred to the inscriptions, figure drawings, and such, found on the walls of ancient sepulchres or ruins, as in the Catacombs of Rome or at Pompeii. Historically, these writings were not considered vandalism, which today is considered part of the definition of graffiti.WEB, How Old Is Graffiti?,wonderopolis.org/wonder/how-old-is-graffiti/, Wonderopolis, 24 January 2017, The only known source of the Safaitic language, an ancient form of Arabic, is from graffiti: inscriptions scratched on to the surface of rocks and boulders in the predominantly basalt desert of southern Syria, eastern Jordan and northern Saudi Arabia. Safaitic dates from the first century BC to the fourth century AD.WEB,krc2.orient.ox.ac.uk/aalc/index.php/en/safaitic-database-online, Ancient Arabia: Languages and Cultures—Safaitic Database Online, dan, krc2.orient.ox.ac.uk, en-gb, 19 February 2018, 20 February 2018,krc2.orient.ox.ac.uk/aalc/index.php/en/safaitic-database-online," title="web.archive.org/web/20180220033117krc2.orient.ox.ac.uk/aalc/index.php/en/safaitic-database-online,">web.archive.org/web/20180220033117krc2.orient.ox.ac.uk/aalc/index.php/en/safaitic-database-online, dead, WEB,krc.orient.ox.ac.uk/ociana/index.php/safaitic, The Online Corpus of the Inscriptions of Ancient North Arabia—Safaitic, dan, krc.orient.ox.ac.uk, en-gb, 19 February 2018, 20 February 2018,krc.orient.ox.ac.uk/ociana/index.php/safaitic," title="web.archive.org/web/20180220033208krc.orient.ox.ac.uk/ociana/index.php/safaitic,">web.archive.org/web/20180220033208krc.orient.ox.ac.uk/ociana/index.php/safaitic, dead,

Ancient graffiti

Some of the oldest cave paintings in the world are 40,000 year old ones found in Australia.BOOK, McDonald, Fiona,books.google.com/books?id=ZnGCDwAAQBAJ, The Popular History of Graffiti: From the Ancient World to the Present, 2013-06-13, Simon and Schuster, 978-1-62636-291-8, en, The oldest written graffiti was found in ancient Rome around 2500 years ago.WEB, Magazine, Smithsonian, Griggs, Mary Beth, Archaeologists in Greece Find Some of the World’s Oldest Erotic Graffiti,www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/erotic-graffiti-found-greece-180951979/, 2023-09-03, Smithsonian Magazine, en, Most graffiti from the time was boasts about sexual experiencesNEWS, Smith, Helena, 2014-07-06, 2,500-year-old erotic graffiti found in unlikely setting on Aegean island, en-GB, The Guardian,www.theguardian.com/science/2014/jul/06/worlds-earliest-erotic-graffiti-astypalaia-classical-greece, 2023-09-03, 0261-3077, Graffiti in Ancient Rome was a form of communication, and was not considered vandalism.Ancient tourists visiting the 5th-century citadel at Sigiriya in Sri Lanka write their names and commentary over the “mirror wall”, adding up to over 1800 individual graffiti produced there between the 6th and 18th centuries.BOOK, Kljun, Matjaž, Pucihar, Klen ÄŒopič, Human-Computer Interaction – INTERACT 2015, “I Was Here”: Enabling Tourists to Leave Digital Graffiti or Marks on Historic Landmarks, 2015, Abascal, Julio, Barbosa, Simone, Fetter, Mirko, Gross, Tom, Palanque, Philippe, Winckler, Marco,link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-319-22723-8_45, Lecture Notes in Computer Science, 9299, en, Cham, Springer International Publishing, 490–494, 10.1007/978-3-319-22723-8_45, 978-3-319-22723-8, Most of the graffiti refer to the frescoes of semi-nude females found there. One reads:{{poemquote|Wet with cool dew dropsfragrant with perfume from the flowerscame the gentle breezejasmine and water lilydance in the spring sunshineside-long glancesof the golden-hued ladiesstab into my thoughtsheaven itself cannot take my mindas it has been captivated by one lassamong the five hundred I have seen here.BOOK, Paranavithana, Senarath, Sigiri Graffiti; Being Sinhalese Verses of the Eighth, Ninth and Tenth Centuries, 1956, Govt. of Ceylon by Oxford UP, London, }}Among the ancient political graffiti examples were Arab satirist poems. Yazid al-Himyari, an Umayyad Arab and Persian poet, was most known for writing his political poetry on the walls between Sajistan and Basra, manifesting a strong hatred towards the Umayyad regime and its walis, and people used to read and circulate them very widely.حسين مروّة، تراثنا كيف نعرفه، مؤسسة الأبحاث العربية، بيروت، 1986{{clarify|date=October 2014}}{{clarify|date=October 2014}}Graffiti, known as Tacherons, were frequently scratched on Romanesque Scandinavian church walls.When Renaissance artists such as Pinturicchio, Raphael, Michelangelo, Ghirlandaio, or Filippino Lippi descended into the ruins of Nero’s Domus Aurea, they carved or painted their names and returned to initiate the grottesche style of decoration.There are also examples of graffiti occurring in American history, such as Independence Rock, a national landmark along the Oregon Trail.WEB, Independence Rock—California National Historic Trail (National Park Service),www.nps.gov/cali/planyourvisit/site5.htm, National Park Service, 18 January 2018, File : Graffiti 4.JPG|Graffiti from the Museum of Ancient Graffiti (:fr:Maison du graffiti ancien|(fr)), France 2487(Admiror paries).jpg|Ironic wall inscription commenting on boring graffitiJesus graffito.jpg|Satirical Alexamenos graffito, possibly the earliest known representation of JesusAncientgrafS.jpg|Graffiti, Church of the Holy Sepulchre, JerusalemCrusader Graffiti in the Church of the holy supulchure Jerusalem Victor 2011 -1-21.jpg|Crusader graffiti in the Church of the Holy SepulchreHagia-sofia-viking.jpg|Viking mercenary graffiti at the Hagia Sophia in Istanbul, TurkeySigiriya-graffiti.jpg|Graffiti on the Mirror Wall, Sigiriya, Sri Lanka

Contemporary graffiti

Later, French soldiers carved their names on monuments during the Napoleonic (French Revolutionary Wars: Campaigns of 1798|campaign of Egypt) in the 1790s. Lord Byron’s survives on one of the columns of the Temple of Poseidon at Cape Sounion in Attica, Greece.The oldest known example of graffiti “monikers” found on traincars created by hobos and railworkers since the late 1800s. The Bozo Texino monikers were documented by filmmaker Bill Daniel in his 2005 film, Who is Bozo Texino?.WEB, Daniel, Bill, 22 July 2010, Who Is Bozo Texino?,walkerart.org/calendar/2010/who-is-bozo-texino, 23 August 2018, WEB, Daniel, Bill, 2005, Who Is Bozo Texino?,www.billdaniel.net/who-is-bozo-texino/, 23 August 2018, Who Is Bozo Texino? The Secret History of Hobo Graffiti, In World War II, an inscription on a wall at the fortress of Verdun was seen as an illustration of the US response twice in a generation to the wrongs of the Old World:NEWS,www.nytimes.com/1985/08/14/opinion/words-from-a-war.html, Words From a War, 14 August 1985, The New York Times, 2 January 2017, {{poemquote|Austin White – Chicago, Ill – 1918Austin White – Chicago, Ill – 1945This is the last time I want to write my name here.}}During World War II and for decades after, the phrase “Kilroy was here” with an accompanying illustration was widespread throughout the world, due to its use by American troops and ultimately filtering into American popular culture. Shortly after the death of Charlie Parker (nicknamed “Yardbird” or “Bird“), graffiti began appearing around New York with the words “Bird Lives”.Bundesarchiv Bild 101I-309-0816-20A, Italien, Soldat zeichnend.jpg|Soldier with tropical fantasy graffiti (1943–1944)Graffiti inside the ruins of the German Reichstag building.jpg|Soviet Army graffiti in the ruins of the Reichstag, in Berlin (1945)Kilroy Was Here - Washington DC WWII Memorial - Jason Coyne.jpg|Permanent engraving of Kilroy on the World War II Memorial, in Washington, D.C.NYC R36 1 subway car.png|New York City Subway trains were covered in graffiti (1973).GRAFFITI ON A WALL IN CHICAGO. SUCH WRITING HAS ADVANCED AND BECOME AN ART FORM, PARTICULARLY IN METROPOLITAN AREAS.... - NARA - 556232.jpg|Graffiti in Chicago (1973)

Modern Graffiti

Modern graffiti art has its origins with young people in 1960s and 70s in New York City and Philadelphia. Tags were the first form of stylised contemporary graffiti. Eventually, throw-ups and pieces evolved with the desire to create larger art. Writers used spray paint and other kind of materials to leave tags or to create images on the sides subway trains.WEB, Tate, Graffiti art,www.tate.org.uk/art/art-terms/g/graffiti-art, 2023-02-23, Tate, en-GB, and eventually moved into the city after the NYC metro began to buy new trains and paint over graffiti.JOURNAL, Snyder, Gregory J., 2006-04-01, Graffiti media and the perpetuation of an illegal subculture,journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/1741659006061716, Crime, Media, Culture, en, 2, 1, 93–101, 10.1177/1741659006061716, 144911784, 1741-6590, While the art had many advocates and appreciators—including the cultural critic Norman Mailer—others, including New York City mayor Ed Koch, considered it to be defacement of public property, and saw it as a form of public blight.WEB, The history of graffiti,learnenglishteens.britishcouncil.org/skills/reading/b2-reading/history-graffiti, 2023-03-24, learnenglishteens.britishcouncil.org, en, The ‘taggers’ called what they did ‘writing’—though an important 1974 essay by Mailer referred to it using the term ‘graffiti.’Contemporary graffiti style has been heavily influenced by hip hop cultureWEB,genius.com/Paul-edwards-is-graffiti-really-an-element-of-hip-hop-book-excerpt-annotated, Is Graffiti Really An Element Of Hip-Hop? (book excerpt), 10 February 2015, The Concise Guide to Hip-Hop Music, 23 August 2018, Paul, Edwards, and the myriad international styles derived from Philadelphia and New York City Subway graffiti; however, there are many other traditions of notable graffiti in the twentieth century. Graffiti have long appeared on building walls, in latrines, railroad boxcars, subways, and bridges.An early graffito outside of New York or Philadelphia was the inscription in London reading “Clapton is God” in reference to the guitarist Eric Clapton. Creating the cult of the guitar hero, the phrase was spray-painted by an admirer on a wall in Islington, north London, in the autumn of 1967.NEWS, Hann, Michael, 12 June 2011, Eric Clapton creates the cult of the guitar hero, The Guardian,www.theguardian.com/music/2011/jun/12/eric-clapton, live, 16 December 2016,web.archive.org/web/20170311172627/https://www.theguardian.com/music/2011/jun/12/eric-clapton, 11 March 2017, The graffito was captured in a photograph, in which a dog is urinating on the wall.NEWS, McCormick, Neil, 24 July 2015, Just how good is Eric Clapton?, The Telegraph, London,www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/music/rockandpopfeatures/11501274/Just-how-good-is-Eric-Clapton.html, live, 3 April 2018,www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/music/rockandpopfeatures/11501274/Just-how-good-is-Eric-Clapton.html," title="web.archive.org/web/20171124071909www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/music/rockandpopfeatures/11501274/Just-how-good-is-Eric-Clapton.html,">web.archive.org/web/20171124071909www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/music/rockandpopfeatures/11501274/Just-how-good-is-Eric-Clapton.html, 24 November 2017, Films like Style Wars in the 80s depicting famous writers such as Skeme, Dondi, MinOne, and ZEPHYR reinforced graffiti’s role within New York’s emerging hip-hop culture. Although many officers of the New York City Police Department found this film to be controversial, Style Wars is still recognized as the most prolific film representation of what was going on within the young hip hop culture of the early 1980s. Fab{{nbsp}}5 Freddy and Futura 2000 took hip hop graffiti to Paris and London as part of the New York City Rap Tour in 1983.

Commercialization and entrance into mainstream pop culture

With the popularity and legitimization of graffiti has come a level of commercialization. In 2001, computer giant IBM launched an advertising campaign in Chicago and San Francisco which involved people spray painting on sidewalks a peace symbol, a heart, and a penguin (Linux mascot), to represent “Peace, Love, and Linux.” IBM paid Chicago and San Francisco collectively US$120,000 for punitive damages and clean-up costs.In 2005, a similar ad campaign was launched by Sony and executed by its advertising agency in New York, Chicago, Atlanta, Philadelphia, Los Angeles, and Miami, to market its handheld PSP gaming system. In this campaign, taking notice of the legal problems of the IBM campaign, Sony paid building owners for the rights to paint on their buildings “a collection of dizzy-eyed urban kids playing with the PSP as if it were a skateboard, a paddle, or a rocking horse”.

Global developments

South America

Tristan Manco wrote that Brazil “boasts a unique and particularly rich, graffiti scene ... [earning] it an international reputation as the place to go for artistic inspiration”. Graffiti “flourishes in every conceivable space in Brazil’s cities”. Artistic parallels “are often drawn between the energy of São Paulo today and 1970s New York”. The “sprawling metropolis”, of São Paulo has “become the new shrine to graffiti”; Manco alludes to “poverty and unemployment ... [and] the epic struggles and conditions of the country’s marginalised peoples”, and to “Brazil’s chronic poverty”, as the main engines that “have fuelled a vibrant graffiti culture”. In world terms, Brazil has “one of the most uneven distributions of income. Laws and taxes change frequently”. Such factors, Manco argues, contribute to a very fluid society, riven with those economic divisions and social tensions that underpin and feed the “folkloric vandalism and an urban sport for the disenfranchised”, that is South American graffiti art.File:Graffiti in Tel Aviv, Israel.jpg|thumb|A graffiti piece by the artist DeDe found in Tel AvivTel AvivProminent Brazilian writers include Os Gêmeos, Boleta, Nunca, Nina, Speto, Tikka, and T.Freak. Their artistic success and involvement in commercial design ventures has highlighted divisions within the Brazilian graffiti community between adherents of the cruder transgressive form of pichação and the more conventionally artistic values of the practitioners of grafite.

Middle East

Graffiti in the Middle East has emerged slowly, with taggers operating in Egypt, Lebanon, the Gulf countries like Bahrain or the United Arab Emirates,BOOK, Zoghbi, Pascal,www.worldcat.org/oclc/818463305, Arabic graffiti = GhirāfÄ«tÄ« Ê»ArabÄ«yah, Stone, Hawley, Joy, 2013, From Here to Fame, 978-3-937946-45-0, Berlin, 818463305, Israel, and in Iran. The major Iranian newspaper Hamshahri has published two articles on illegal writers in the city with photographic coverage of Iranian artist A1one’s works on Tehran walls. Tokyo-based design magazine, PingMag, has interviewed A1one and featured photographs of his work. The Israeli West Bank barrier has become a site for graffiti, reminiscent in this sense of the Berlin Wall. Many writers in Israel come from other places around the globe, such as JUIF from Los Angeles and DEVIONE from London. The religious reference “×  × ×— נחמ נחמן מאומן” (“Na Nach Nachma Nachman Meuman“) is commonly seen in graffiti around Israel.Graffiti has played an important role within the street art scene in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA), especially following the events of the Arab Spring of 2011 or the Sudanese Revolution of 2018/19.WEB, Bashir’s Overthrow Inspires Sudan Graffiti Artists,english.aawsat.com/home/article/1695246/bashirs-overthrow-inspires-sudan-graffiti-artists, 2021-06-29, Asharq AL-awsat, en, Graffiti is a tool of expression in the context of conflict in the region, allowing people to raise their voices politically and socially. Famous street artist Banksy has had an important effect in the street art scene in the MENA area, especially in Palestine where some of his works are located in the West Bank barrier and Bethlehem.JOURNAL, DeTruk, Sabrina, 2015, The “Banksy Effect” and Street Art in the Middle East,journals.ap2.pt/index.php/sauc/article/view/25, SAUC – Street Art & Urban Creativity Scientific Journal, 1, 2, 22–30,

Southeast Asia

There are also a large number of graffiti influences in Southeast Asian countries that mostly come from modern Western culture, such as Malaysia, where graffiti have long been a common sight in Malaysia’s capital city, Kuala Lumpur. Since 2010, the country has begun hosting a street festival to encourage all generations and people from all walks of life to enjoy and encourage Malaysian street culture.File:Grafiti, ÄŒakovec (Croatia).2.jpg|Graffiti on a wall in ÄŒakovec, CroatiaFile:Graffiti in Budapest, PestszentlÅ‘rinc.jpg|Graffiti of the character Bender on a wall in Budapest, HungaryFile:Graffiti in Ho Chi Minh City.JPG|Graffiti in Ho Chi Minh City, VietnamFile:Mr. Wany’s work-in-progress artwork for Kul Sign Festival.JPG|Graffiti art in Kuala Lumpur, MalaysiaFile:Graffiti in Yogyakarta, Indonesia.jpg|Graffiti in Yogyakarta, IndonesiaFile:Camperdown Memorial Rest Park Graffiti.jpg|Graffiti on a park wall in Sydney, AustraliaFile:Graffitiensaopaulo.jpg|Graffiti in São Paulo, BrazilFile:Absurdious-001.jpg|Absourdios. Tehran-Iran, 2009.

Types of graffiti

{{See also|Graffiti terminology|Graffiti in the United States}}

Methods and production

The modern-day graffitists can be found with an arsenal of various materials that allow for a successful production of a piece. This includes such techniques as scribing. However, spray paint in aerosol cans is the number one medium for graffiti. From this commodity comes different styles, technique, and abilities to form master works of graffiti. Spray paint can be found at hardware and art stores and comes in virtually every color.File:Vlg shop.jpg|The first graffiti shop in Russia was opened in 1992 in Tver.File:Eurofestival graffiti 2.jpg|Graffiti application at Eurofestival in Turku, FinlandFile:Graffity in the making...(On a wall at Thrissur) CIMG9868.JPG|Graffiti application in India using natural pigments (mostly charcoal, plant saps, and dirt)File:Graffity in the making...(On a wall at Thrissur) CIMG9873.jpg|Completed landscape scene, in Thrissur, Kerala, IndiaFile:Leake Street TQ3079 352.JPG|A graffiti artist at work in London

Stencil graffiti

Stencil graffiti is created by cutting out shapes and designs in a stiff material (such as cardboard or subject folders) to form an overall design or image. The stencil is then placed on the “canvas” gently and with quick, easy strokes of the aerosol can, the image begins to appear on the intended surface.Some of the first examples were created in 1981 by artists Blek le Rat in Paris, in 1982 by Jef Aerosol in Tours (France);WEB, 2024-04-11, The Evolution of Graffiti Art,artsfiesta.com/the-evolution-of-graffiti-art/, 2024-04-13, Arts Fiesta, en-US, by 1985 stencils had appeared in other cities including New York City, Sydney, and Melbourne, where they were documented by American photographer Charles Gatewood and Australian photographer Rennie Ellis.

Tagging

Tagging is the practice of someone spray-painting “their name, initial or logo onto a public surface“NEWS, 2022-01-18, Gullu Daley, Ajax Watson and Jestina Sharpe depicted in St Paul’s street art, en-GB, BBC News,www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-bristol-60039912, 2022-01-19, in a handstyle unique to the writer. Tags were the first form of modern graffiti.File:Tag by Spore.jpg|thumb|A tag in DallasDallasA number of recent examples of graffiti make use of hashtags.WEB, 2015-07-23, Hashtag on the pavement connects with Fitzrovia’s past,fitzrovianews.com/2015/07/23/hashtag-on-the-pavement-connects-with-fitzrovias-past/, 2024-03-26, Fitzrovia News, en-GB, WEB, #RISKROCK #GRAFFITI IN #SANFRANCISCO,massappeal.com/riskrock-graffiti-in-san-francisco/,web.archive.org/web/20171011183228/https://massappeal.com/riskrock-graffiti-in-san-francisco/, 2017-10-11, Mass Appeal, {{wide image|Graffiti i baggÃ¥rd i Ã¥rhus 2c.jpg|1300px|align-cap=center|Densely-tagged parking area in Ã…rhus, Denmark|center|}}

Modern experimentation

File:Knitted graffiti 1.jpg|thumb|right|Knitted graffiti in SeattleSeattle(File:Spiderweb Yarnbomb Installation by Stephen Duneier.JPG|thumbnail|Stephen Duneier’s Spiderweb Yarnbomb installation hides and highlights previous graffiti.)Modern graffiti art often incorporates additional arts and technologies. For example, Graffiti Research Lab has encouraged the use of projected images and magnetic light-emitting diodes (throwies) as new media for graffitists. yarnbombing is another recent form of graffiti. Yarnbombers occasionally target previous graffiti for modification, which had been avoided among the majority of graffitists.

Uses

Theories on the use of graffiti by avant-garde artists have a history dating back at least to the Asger Jorn, who in 1962 painting declared in a graffiti-like gesture “the avant-garde won’t give up”.BOOK, Expression as vandalism: Asger Jorn’s “Modifications”, The University of Chicago Press, Karen Kurczynski, 2008, 293, Many contemporary analysts and even art critics have begun to see artistic value in some graffiti and to recognize it as a form of public art. According to many art researchers, particularly in the Netherlands and in Los Angeles, that type of public art is, in fact an effective tool of social emancipation or, in the achievement of a political goal.In times of conflict, such murals have offered a means of communication and self-expression for members of these socially, ethnically, or racially divided communities, and have proven themselves as effective tools in establishing dialog and thus, of addressing cleavages in the long run. The Berlin Wall was also extensively covered by graffiti reflecting social pressures relating to the oppressive Soviet rule over the GDR.Many artists involved with graffiti are also concerned with the similar activity of stenciling. Essentially, this entails stenciling a print of one or more colors using spray-paint. Recognized while exhibiting and publishing several of her coloured stencils and paintings portraying the Sri Lankan Civil War and urban Britain in the early 2000s, graffitists Mathangi Arulpragasam, aka M.I.A., has also become known for integrating her imagery of political violence into her music videos for singles “Galang” and “Bucky Done Gun”, and her cover art. Stickers of her artwork also often appear around places such as London in Brick Lane, stuck to lamp posts and street signs, she having become a muse for other graffitists and painters worldwide in cities including Seville.Graffitist believes that art should be on display for everyone in the public eye or in plain sight, not hidden away in a museum or a gallery.WEB, Street and Graffiti Art Movement Overview,www.theartstory.org/movement/street-art/, 2023-03-24, The Art Story, en, Art should color the streets, not the inside of some building. Graffiti is a form of art that cannot be owned or bought. It does not last forever, it is temporary, yet one of a kind. It is a form of self promotion for the artist that can be displayed anywhere from sidewalks, roofs, subways, building wall, etc. Art to them is for everyone and should be showed to everyone for free.

Personal expression

Graffiti is a way of communicating and a way of expressing what one feels in the moment. It is both art and a functional thing that can warn people of something or inform people of something. However, graffiti is to some people a form of art, but to some a form of vandalism. And many graffitists choose to protect their identities and remain anonymous or to hinder prosecution.With the commercialization of graffiti (and hip hop in general), in most cases, even with legally painted “graffiti” art, graffitists tend to choose anonymity. This may be attributed to various reasons or a combination of reasons. Graffiti still remains the one of four hip hop elements that is not considered “performance art” despite the image of the “singing and dancing star” that sells hip hop culture to the mainstream. Being a graphic form of art, it might also be said that many graffitists still fall in the category of the introverted archetypal artist.Banksy is one of the world’s most notorious and popular street artists who continues to remain faceless in today’s society. He is known for his political, anti-war stencil art mainly in Bristol, England, but his work may be seen anywhere from Los Angeles to Palestine. In the UK, Banksy is the most recognizable icon for this cultural artistic movement and keeps his identity a secret to avoid arrest. Much of Banksy’s artwork may be seen around the streets of London and surrounding suburbs, although he has painted pictures throughout the world, including the Middle East, where he has painted on Israel’s controversial West Bank barrier with satirical images of life on the other side. One depicted a hole in the wall with an idyllic beach, while another shows a mountain landscape on the other side. A number of exhibitions also have taken place since 2000, and recent works of art have fetched vast sums of money. Banksy’s art is a prime example of the classic controversy: vandalism vs. art. Art supporters endorse his work distributed in urban areas as pieces of art and some councils, such as Bristol and Islington, have officially protected them, while officials of other areas have deemed his work to be vandalism and have removed it.Pixnit is another artist who chooses to keep her identity from the general public. Her work focuses on beauty and design aspects of graffiti as opposed to Banksy’s anti-government shock value. Her paintings are often of flower designs above shops and stores in her local urban area of Cambridge, Massachusetts. Some store owners endorse her work and encourage others to do similar work as well. “One of the pieces was left up above Steve’s Kitchen, because it looks pretty awesome“- Erin Scott, the manager of New England Comics in Allston, Massachusetts.WEB, Pixnit was here {{!, Stencil Archive|url=https://www.stencilarchive.org/content/pixnit-was-here|access-date=2021-06-03|website=www.stencilarchive.org}}Graffiti artists may become offended if photographs of their art are published in a commercial context without their permission. In March 2020, the Finnish graffiti artist Psyke expressed his displeasure at the newspaper Ilta-Sanomat publishing a photograph of a Peugeot 208 in an article about new cars, with his graffiti prominently shown on the background. The artist claims he does not want his art being used in commercial context, not even if he were to receive compensation.Tamminen, Jari: Kuka omistaa graffitin? In Voima issue #1/2021, p. 40.Graffiti at the Temple of Philae (XIII).jpg|Drawing at Temple of Philae, Egypt, depicting three men with rods, or staves4091(Quisquis amat).jpg|Inscription in Pompeii lamenting a frustrated love: “Whoever loves, let him flourish, let him perish who knows not love, let him perish twice over whoever forbids love“Post Apocalyptic Zombie Graffiti, Jan 2015.jpg|Post-apocalyptic despairMermaid Sliema.JPG|Mermaid in Sliema, Malta

Territorial

Territorial graffiti marks urban neighborhoods with tags and logos to differentiate certain groups from others. These images are meant to show outsiders a stern look at whose turf is whose. The subject matter of gang-related graffiti consists of cryptic symbols and initials strictly fashioned with unique calligraphies. Gang members use graffiti to designate membership throughout the gang, to differentiate rivals and associates and, most commonly, to mark borders which are both territorial and ideological.

As advertising

{{Unreferenced section|date=March 2009}}Graffiti has been used as a means of advertising both legally and illegally. Bronx-based TATS CRU has made a name for themselves doing legal advertising campaigns for companies such as Coca-Cola, McDonald’s, Toyota, and MTV. In the UK, Covent Garden’s Boxfresh used stencil images of a Zapatista revolutionary in the hopes that cross referencing would promote their store.Smirnoff hired artists to use reverse graffiti (the use of high pressure hoses to clean dirty surfaces to leave a clean image in the surrounding dirt) to increase awareness of their product.1969(Lais felat).jpg|Ancient Pompeiian graffiti advertising by a pimpGrafitti as advertising in China 02.jpg|Graffiti as advertising in Haikou, Hainan Province, China, which is an extremely common form of graffiti seen throughout the countryWarszawa Stary Mokotów graffiti on shop window.jpg|Graffiti as legal advertising on a grocer’s shop window in Warsaw, Poland

Radical and political

File:M2109 Iraq War Protest (Black Bloc Element).jpg|thumb|upright=1.05|Black bloc members spray graffiti on a wall during an Iraq War Protest in Washington, D.C.]]Graffiti often has a reputation as part of a subculture that rebels against authority, although the considerations of the practitioners often diverge and can relate to a wide range of attitudes. It can express a political practice and can form just one tool in an array of resistance techniques. One early example includes the anarcho-punk band Crass, who conducted a campaign of stenciling anti-war, anarchist, feminist, and anti-consumerist messages throughout the London Underground system during the late 1970s and early 1980s. In Amsterdam graffiti was a major part of the punk scene. The city was covered with names such as “De Zoot”, “Vendex”, and “Dr Rat”. To document the graffiti a punk magazine was started that was called Gallery Anus. So when hip hop came to Europe in the early 1980s there was already a vibrant graffiti culture.File:Anarchy police.jpg|thumb|left|Police car graffitied with anarchist symbols ]]The student protests and general strike of May 1968 saw Paris bedecked in revolutionary, anarchistic, and situationist slogans such as L’ennui est contre-révolutionnaire (“Boredom is counterrevolutionary“) and Lisez moins, vivez plus (“Read less, live more“). While not exhaustive, the graffiti gave a sense of the ‘millenarian’ and rebellious spirit, tempered with a good deal of verbal wit, of the strikers.The developments of graffiti art which took place in art galleries and colleges as well as “on the street” or “underground”, contributed to the resurfacing in the 1990s of a far more overtly politicized art form in the subvertising, culture jamming, or tactical media movements. These movements or styles tend to classify the artists by their relationship to their social and economic contexts, since, in most countries, graffiti art remains illegal in many forms except when using non-permanent paint. Since the 1990s with the rise of Street Art, a growing number of artists are switching to non-permanent paints and non-traditional forms of painting.WEB,www.zipcar.com/ziptopia/city-living/temporary-street-art-changing-the-graffiti-game, Temporary Street Art That’s Changing The Graffiti Game, Ziptopia, STEVEN, HARRINGTON, 26 August 2018, WEB,www.huffingtonpost.com/ron-english/street-art-its-not-meant-_b_5610496.html, Street Art: It’s Not Meant to be Permanent, Huffington Post, Ron, English, 6 December 2017, 26 August 2018, Contemporary practitioners, accordingly, have varied and often conflicting practices. Some individuals, such as Alexander Brener, have used the medium to politicize other art forms, and have used the prison sentences enforced on them as a means of further protest.The practices of anonymous groups and individuals also vary widely, and practitioners by no means always agree with each other’s practices. For example, the anti-capitalist art group the Space Hijackers did a piece in 2004 about the contradiction between the capitalistic elements of Banksy and his use of political imagery.WEB,tanyabaxtercontemporary.com/banksy#!Banksy_Flying_Copper__screen_print_on_paper__100_x_70_cm, Banksy, Tanya Baxter Contemporary Gallery, 26 August 2018, WEB,www.haynesfineart.com/artists/Banksy--, Banksy, Haynes Fine Art, 26 August 2018, Berlin human rights activist Irmela Mensah-Schramm has received global media attention and numerous awards for her 35-year campaign of effacing neo-Nazi and other right-wing extremist graffiti throughout Germany, often by altering hate speech in humorous ways.NEWS, Ramsel, Yannick, 8 January 2021, Die Hakenkreuzjägerin, Der Spiegel,www.spiegel.de/politik/deutschland/irmela-mensah-schramm-beseitigt-rassistische-graffiti-und-aufkleber-die-hakenkreuzjaegerin-a-00000000-0002-0001-0000-000174784623, NEWS, Cataneo, Emily, 12 April 2018, The Berliner Who Evaded Arrest, Off Assignment,www.offassignment.com/articles/emily-cataneo, File:Graffiti, George Floyd protest, Minneapolis, Minnesota, June 2020 (49997279552).jpg|thumb|“Fuck 12”, an anti-police message insulting the police on a wall in MinneapolisMinneapolisFile:Graffiti - No To Vaccine - Ystad-2021.jpg|Graffiti with orthodox cross at the Catholic Church in Ystad, 2021File:Revolution - 2014.jpg|“Revolution”. Sweden, 2014.File:Anti Iraqi war graffiti by street artist Sony Montana in Cancun, Mexico.jpg|Anti Iraqi war graffiti by street artist Sony Montana in Cancún, Mexico (2007)File:Vote for Filip Filipovic.jpg|Wall in Belgrade, Serbia, with the slogan “Vote for Filip Filipović”, who was the communist candidate for the mayor of Belgrade (1920)File:The separation barrier which runs through Bethlehem.jpg|An interpretation of Liberty Leading the People on the separation barrier which runs through BethlehemFile:BerlinAnhalterBunker.jpg|WWII bunker near Anhalter Bahnhof (Berlin) with a graffiti inscription Wer Bunker baut, wirft Bomben (those who build bunkers, throw bombs)File:Amsterdam Grafitti Freedom Lives When the State Dies.png|Graffiti on the train line leading to Central Station in AmsterdamFile:Riia-002.JPG|“Let’s JOKK” in Tartu refers to political scandal with the Estonian Reform Party (2012).File:Pieksämäki - Kekkos-graffiti IMG 0227 C.JPG|Stencil in Pieksämäki representing former president of Finland, Urho Kekkonen, well known in Finnish popular cultureFile:Keep your rosaries graffiti.jpg|Feminist graffiti in A Coruña, Spain, that reads Enough with rosaries in our ovariesFile:Australia steals Timor Oil.jpg|East Timorese protest against Australian petroleum extractionFile:Kiss-EastSideGallery.jpg|Graffiti of two communist leaders kissing, on the Berlin WallFile:Bethlehem Wall Graffiti 1.jpg|Ironic graffiti in Bethlehem, PalestineFile:Berliner Mauer.jpg|Berlin Wall: “Anyone who wants to keep the world as it is, does not want it to remain“File:ACAB - Cusco, Peru.jpg|A pig above ACAB, beside anti-Fujimorism graffiti in Cusco, Peru

Genocide denial

{{Undue weight|date=December 2023}}In Serbian capital, Belgrade, the graffiti depicting a uniformed former general of Serb army and war criminal, convicted at ICTY for war crimes and crimes against humanity, including genocide and ethnic cleansing in Bosnian War, Ratko Mladić, appeared in a military salute alongside the words “General, thank to your mother”.WEB, Nevena Bogdanović, Predrag UroÅ¡ević, Andy Heil, Graffiti War: Battle In The Streets Over Ratko Mladic Mural,www.rferl.org/a/serbia-mladic-mural-protests/31555357.html, Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty, 28 August 2022, en, Belgrade, November 10, 2021, Aleks Eror, Berlin-based journalist, explains how “veneration of historical and wartime figures” through street art is not a new phenomenon in the region of former Yugoslavia, and that “in most cases is firmly focused on the future, rather than retelling the past”.WEB, Aleks Eror, How Serbian street art is using the past to shape the future,www.calvertjournal.com/articles/show/13353/ratko-mladic-mural-belgrade-serbia-are-revision-history-shape-future, The Calvert Journal, 28 August 2022, en, 14 December 2021, Eror is not only analyst pointing to danger of such an expressions for the region’s future. In a long expose on the subject of Bosnian genocide denial, at Balkan Diskurs magazine and multimedia platform website, Kristina Gadže and Taylor Whitsell referred to these experiences as a young generations’ “cultural heritage”, in which young are being exposed to celebration and affirmation of war-criminals as part of their “formal education” and “inheritance”.WEB, Taylor Whitsell, Kristina Gadže, New Generations Still Follow in a War Criminal’s Footsteps,balkandiskurs.com/en/2021/12/15/new-generations-still-follow-in-a-war-criminals-footsteps/, Balkan Diskurs, 28 August 2022, Belgrade, en, 15 December 2021, File:Mural u Baru, prikaz ratnog zločinca Ratka Mladića.jpg|250px|thumb|right|Mural in Bar, MontenegroBar, MontenegroThere are numerous examples of genocide denial through celebration and affirmation of war criminals throughout the region of Western Balkans inhabited by Serbs using this form of artistic expression. Several more of these graffiti are found in Serbian capital, and many more across Serbia and Bosnian and Herzegovinian administrative entity, Republika Srpska, which is the ethnic Serbian majority enclave.WEB, Dženana Karup-DruÅ¡ko, Denying genocide and celebrating war criminals may only be stopped by the adoption of a law that sanctions the actions,ba.boell.org/en/2019/05/16/denying-genocide-and-celebrating-war-criminals-may-only-be-stopped-adoption-law-sanctions, Heinrich-Böll-Stiftung, 28 August 2022, Sarajevo, en, 16 May 2019, Critics point that Serbia as a state, is willing to defend the mural of convicted war criminal, and have no intention to react on cases of genocide denial, noting that Interior Minister of Serbia, Aleksandar Vulin decision to ban any gathering with an intent to remove the mural, with the deployment of riot police, sends the message of “tacit endorsement”. Consequently, on 9 November 2021, Serbian heavy police in riot gear, with graffiti creators and their supporters, blocked the access to the mural to prevent human rights groups and other activists to paint over it and mark the International Day Against Fascism and Antisemitism in that way, and even arrested two civic activist for throwing eggs at the graffiti.WEB, Sofija Popović, The case of Mladić mural shows that authorities in Serbia have no intention to deal with war crimes,europeanwesternbalkans.com/2021/11/12/the-case-of-mladic-mural-shows-that-authorities-in-serbia-have-no-intention-to-deal-with-war-crimes/, European Western Balkans, 28 August 2022, Belgrade, 12 November 2021,

Offensive graffiti

(File:One World !.jpg|thumb|“One World”)File:Stop graffitti.jpg|thumb|Gang symbol markings on public property, Millwood, WashingtonMillwood, WashingtonGraffiti may also be used as an offensive expression. This form of graffiti may be difficult to identify, as it is mostly removed by the local authority (as councils which have adopted strategies of criminalization also strive to remove graffiti quickly). Therefore, existing racist graffiti is mostly more subtle and at first sight, not easily recognized as “racist”. It can then be understood only if one knows the relevant “local code” (social, historical, political, temporal, and spatial), which is seen as heteroglot and thus a ‘unique set of conditions’ in a cultural context. By making the graffiti less explicit (as adapted to social and legal constraints), these drawings are less likely to be removed, but do not lose their threatening and offensive character.Elsewhere, activists in Russia have used painted caricatures of local officials with their mouths as potholes, to show their anger about the poor state of the roads.NEWS, Schreck, Carl, 19 June 2015, Russian politicians mocked with guerrilla pothole portraits,www.theguardian.com/world/2015/jun/19/russia-pothole-portraits-activists-banksy, New East Network, 24 September 2015, In Manchester, England, a graffitists painted obscene images around potholes, which often resulted in them being repaired within 48 hours.NEWS, 29 April 2015, Meet the man using penises to fill potholes,www.telegraph.co.uk/men/the-filter/11570595/Meet-the-man-using-penises-to-fill-potholes.html,ghostarchive.org/archive/20220111/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/men/the-filter/11570595/Meet-the-man-using-penises-to-fill-potholes.html, 2022-01-11, subscription, live, The Telegraph, 24 September 2015, {{cbignore}}

Decorative and high art

File:JonesyLondon.jpg|thumb|upright|A bronze work by Jonesy on a wall in Brick Lane (LondonLondonIn the early 1980s, the first art galleries to show graffitists to the public were Fashion Moda in the Bronx, Now Gallery and Fun Gallery, both in the East Village, Manhattan.JOURNAL,journals.openedition.org/rrca/601, From the Street to Art Galleries : How Graffiti Became a Legitimate Art Form, 2014, 26 August 2018, Open Edition, David, diallo, WEB,hyperallergic.com/227683/35-years-after-fashion-moda-a-bronx-gallery-revisits-the-landmark-space/, 35 Years After Fashion Moda, a Bronx Gallery Revisits the Landmark Space, 6 August 2015, 26 August 2018, Hyperallergic, Tiernan, Morgan, NEWS,www.nytimes.com/2012/03/25/nyregion/recreating-the-fashion-moda-exhibition-of-1982.html,ghostarchive.org/archive/20220102/https://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/25/nyregion/recreating-the-fashion-moda-exhibition-of-1982.html, 2022-01-02, limited, live, When a South Bronx Collective Went International, 23 March 2012, 26 August 2018, New York Times, SUSAN, HODARA, {{cbignore}}WEB,www.nydailynews.com/new-york/bronx/fashion-moda-old-haven-artists-south-bronx-focus-special-event-saturday-article-1.1263587, The legacy of Fashion Moda, a shuttered art and performance space, to be spotlighted, 15 February 2013, 26 August 2018, New York Daily News, TANYANIKA, SAMUELS, A 2006 exhibition at the Brooklyn Museum displayed graffiti as an art form that began in New York’s outer boroughs and reached great heights in the early 1980s with the work of Crash, Lee, Daze, Keith Haring, and Jean-Michel Basquiat. It displayed 22 works by New York graffitists, including Crash, Daze, and Lady Pink. In an article about the exhibition in the magazine Time Out, curator Charlotta Kotik said that she hoped the exhibition would cause viewers to rethink their assumptions about graffiti.From the 1970s onwards, Burhan DoÄŸançay photographed urban walls all over the world; these he then archived for use as sources of inspiration for his painterly works. The project today known as “Walls of the World” grew beyond even his own expectations and comprises about 30,000 individual images. It spans a period of 40 years across five continents and 114 countries. In 1982, photographs from this project comprised a one-man exhibition titled “Les murs murmurent, ils crient, ils chantent{{nbsp}}...” (The walls whisper, shout and sing{{nbsp}}...) at the Centre Georges Pompidou in Paris.In Australia, art historians have judged some local graffiti of sufficient creative merit to rank them firmly within the arts. Oxford University Press’s art history text Australian Painting 1788–2000 concludes with a long discussion of graffiti’s key place within contemporary visual culture, including the work of several Australian practitioners.Between March and April 2009, 150 artists exhibited 300 pieces of graffiti at the Grand Palais in Paris.File:Graffiti Obelisco.jpg|Graffiti in Buenos Aires, showing the ObeliskFile:Graffiti (Budapest, PestszentlÅ‘rinc).jpg|Graffiti on a wall in Budapest, HungaryFile:Graffiti in Tikkurila.jpg|Graffiti on the wall of pedestrian tunnel in Tikkurila, Vantaa, Finland

Environmental effects

Spray paint has many negative environmental effects. The paint contains toxic chemicals, and the can uses volatile hydrocarbon gases to spray the paint onto a surface.WEB,www.hercenter.org/facilitiesandgrounds/paints.php#healthenv, Health and Environmental Issues of Spray Paint, Healthcare Environmental Resource Center, 30 April 2019, Volatile organic compound (VOC) leads to ground level ozone formation and most of graffiti related emissions are VOCs.WEB,www3.epa.gov/ttn/chief/conference/ei19/session7/leskys.pdf,www.epa.gov/ttn/chief/conference/ei19/session7/leskys.pdf," title="web.archive.org/web/20110204080037www.epa.gov/ttn/chief/conference/ei19/session7/leskys.pdf,">web.archive.org/web/20110204080037www.epa.gov/ttn/chief/conference/ei19/session7/leskys.pdf, 2011-02-04, live, Establishing Graffiti Emissions as a Nonpoint Source Sector, Leskys, AM, September 2010, A 2010 paper estimates 4,862 tons of VOCs were released in the United States in activities related to graffiti.WEB,www3.epa.gov/ttn/chief/conference/ei19/index.html, 19th International Emission Inventory Conference “Emission Inventories—Informing Emerging Issues” September 2010, EPA,

Government responses

File:US military anti-graffiti poster in Kuwait.png|thumb|upright|Poster at a US military base in KuwaitKuwait

Asia

In China, Mao Zedong in the 1920s used revolutionary slogans and paintings in public places to galvanize the country’s communist movement.Based on different national conditions, many people believe that China’s attitude towards Graffiti is fierce, but in fact, according to Lance Crayon in his film Spray Paint Beijing: Graffiti in the Capital of China, Graffiti is generally accepted in Beijing, with artists not seeing much police interference. Political and religiously sensitive graffiti, however, is not allowed.WEB,www.pri.org/stories/2014-04-21/beijings-thriving-graffiti-culture-may-surprise-you, Beijing’s thriving graffiti culture may surprise you, Public Radio International, en, 24 April 2019, In Hong Kong, Tsang Tsou Choi was known as the King of Kowloon for his calligraphy graffiti over many years, in which he claimed ownership of the area. Now some of his work is preserved officially.In Taiwan, the government has made some concessions to graffitists. Since 2005 they have been allowed to freely display their work along some sections of riverside retaining walls in designated “Graffiti Zones”. From 2007, Taipei’s department of cultural affairs also began permitting graffiti on fences around major public construction sites. Department head Yong-ping Lee (李永萍) stated, “We will promote graffiti starting with the public sector, and then later in the private sector too. It’s our goal to beautify the city with graffiti”. The government later helped organize a graffiti contest in Ximending, a popular shopping district. Graffitists caught working outside of these designated areas still face fines up to NT$6,000 under a department of environmental protection regulation. However, Taiwanese authorities can be relatively lenient, one veteran police officer stating anonymously, “Unless someone complains about vandalism, we won’t get involved. We don’t go after it proactively.“In 1993, after several expensive cars in Singapore were spray-painted, the police arrested a student from the Singapore American School, Michael P. Fay, questioned him, and subsequently charged him with vandalism. Fay pleaded guilty to vandalizing a car in addition to stealing road signs. Under the 1966 Vandalism Act of Singapore, originally passed to curb the spread of communist graffiti in Singapore, the court sentenced him to four months in jail, a fine of S$3,500 (US$2,233), and a caning. The New York Times ran several editorials and op-eds that condemned the punishment and called on the American public to flood the Singaporean embassy with protests. Although the Singapore government received many calls for clemency, Fay’s caning took place in Singapore on 5 May 1994. Fay had originally received a sentence of six strokes of the cane, but the presiding president of Singapore, Ong Teng Cheong, agreed to reduce his caning sentence to four lashes.In South Korea, Park Jung-soo was fined two million South Korean won by the Seoul Central District Court for spray-painting a rat on posters of the G-20 Summit a few days before the event in November 2011. Park alleged that the initial in “G-20” sounds like the Korean word for “rat”, but Korean government prosecutors alleged that Park was making a derogatory statement about the president of South Korea, Lee Myung-bak, the host of the summit. This case led to public outcry and debate on the lack of government tolerance and in support of freedom of expression. The court ruled that the painting, “an ominous creature like a rat” amounts to “an organized criminal activity” and upheld the fine while denying the prosecution’s request for imprisonment for Park.File:Tsang graffiti.jpg|Street graffiti in Hong KongFile:201712 Graffiti on a building of Shentangqiao1.jpg|The Graffiti Piece “Tante” (by Chen Dongfan) on the surface wall of an old residential building in Hangzhou, Zhejiang, China

Europe

File:Graffiti removal berlin.jpg|thumb|upright|Graffiti removal in BerlinBerlinIn Europe, community cleaning squads have responded to graffiti, in some cases with reckless abandon, as when in 1992 in France a local Scout group, attempting to remove modern graffiti, damaged www.panoramio.com/photo/26895452" title="web.archive.org/web/20171109194433www.panoramio.com/photo/26895452">two prehistoric paintings of bison in the Cave of Mayrière supérieure near the French village of Bruniquel in Tarn-et-Garonne, earning them the 1992 Ig Nobel Prize in archeology.In September 2006, the European Parliament directed the European Commission to create urban environment policies to prevent and eliminate dirt, litter, graffiti, animal excrement, and excessive noise from domestic and vehicular music systems in European cities, along with other concerns over urban life.In Budapest, Hungary, both a city-backed movement called I Love Budapest and a special police division tackle the problem, including the provision of approved areas.

United Kingdom

The Anti-social Behaviour Act 2003 became Britain’s latest anti-graffiti legislation. In August 2004, the Keep Britain Tidy campaign issued a press release calling for zero tolerance of graffiti and supporting proposals such as issuing “on the spot” fines to graffiti offenders and banning the sale of aerosol paint to anyone under the age of 16. The press release also condemned the use of graffiti images in advertising and in music videos, arguing that real-world experience of graffiti stood far removed from its often-portrayed “cool” or “edgy’” image.To back the campaign, 123 Members of Parliament (MPs) (including then Prime Minister Tony Blair), signed a charter which stated: “Graffiti is not art, it’s crime. On behalf of my constituents, I will do all I can to rid our community of this problem.“In the UK, city councils have the power to take action against the owner of any property that has been defaced under the Anti-social Behaviour Act 2003 (as amended by the Clean Neighbourhoods and Environment Act 2005) or, in certain cases, the Highways Act. This is often used against owners of property that are complacent in allowing protective boards to be defaced so long as the property is not damaged.{{citation needed|date=July 2018}}In July 2008, a conspiracy charge was used to convict graffitists for the first time. After a three-month police surveillance operation, nine members of the DPM crew were convicted of conspiracy to commit criminal damage costing at least £1 million. Five of them received prison sentences, ranging from eighteen months to two years. The unprecedented scale of the investigation and the severity of the sentences rekindled public debate over whether graffiti should be considered art or crime.Some councils, like those of Stroud and Loerrach, provide approved areas in the town where graffitists can showcase their talents, including underpasses, car parks, and walls that might otherwise prove a target for the “spray and run”.File:Mur de tags au Forum de Barcelone.jpg|Multi-artist graffiti in Barcelona, SpainFile:KGD zumaia 1.jpg|Integration of graffiti into its environment, Zumaia, Spain (2016)File:Grafiti na Trsatu, Rijeka (Croatia).jpg|Graffiti made by school children in Rijeka, CroatiaFile:ქორქ?.jpg|Graffiti written in Georgian script, Tbilisi, GeorgiaFile:Princip Gavrilo grafit.JPG|Historical graffito of Gavrilo Princip in Belgrade, SerbiaFile:NN 07-08-2020 46.jpg|Graffiti on a garage near a school in Nizhny Novgorod, RussiaFile:Stadion Ljudski Vrt (19577579076).jpg|Football related graffiti in Maribor, SloveniaFile:Our Lady of the Hattifatteners (cropped).jpg|Graffiti by Hazul in Porto, Portugal

Australia

File:Graffiti tunnel 2009, University of Sydney.jpg|thumb|Graffiti Tunnel, University of Sydney at Camperdown (2009)]]In an effort to reduce vandalism, many cities in Australia have designated walls or areas exclusively for use by graffitists. One early example is the “Graffiti Tunnel” located at the Camperdown Campus of the University of Sydney, which is available for use by any student at the university to tag, advertise, poster, and paint. Advocates of this idea suggest that this discourages petty vandalism yet encourages artists to take their time and produce great art, without worry of being caught or arrested for vandalism or trespassing. Others disagree with this approach, arguing that the presence of legal graffiti walls does not demonstrably reduce illegal graffiti elsewhere. Some local government areas throughout Australia have introduced “anti-graffiti squads”, who clean graffiti in the area, and such crews as BCW (Buffers Can’t Win) have taken steps to keep one step ahead of local graffiti cleaners.Many state governments have banned the sale or possession of spray paint to those under the age of 18 (age of majority). However, a number of local governments in Victoria have taken steps to recognize the cultural heritage value of some examples of graffiti, such as prominent political graffiti. Tough new graffiti laws have been introduced in Australia with fines of up to A$26,000 and two years in prison.Melbourne is a prominent graffiti city of Australia with many of its lanes being tourist attractions, such as Hosier Lane in particular, a popular destination for photographers, wedding photography, and backdrops for corporate print advertising. The Lonely Planet travel guide cites Melbourne’s street as a major attraction. All forms of graffiti, including sticker art, poster, stencil art, and wheatpasting, can be found in many places throughout the city. Prominent street art precincts include; Fitzroy, Collingwood, Northcote, Brunswick, St. Kilda, and the CBD, where stencil and sticker art is prominent. As one moves farther away from the city, mostly along suburban train lines, graffiti tags become more prominent. Many international artists such as Banksy have left their work in Melbourne and in early 2008 a perspex screen was installed to prevent a Banksy stencil art piece from being destroyed, it has survived since 2003 through the respect of local street artists avoiding posting over it, although it has recently had paint tipped over it.

New Zealand

(File:Christchurch Stock Yards.jpg|thumb|Former Christchurch stock yards)In February 2008 Helen Clark, the New Zealand prime minister at that time, announced a government crackdown on tagging and other forms of graffiti vandalism, describing it as a destructive crime representing an invasion of public and private property. New legislation subsequently adopted included a ban on the sale of paint spray cans to persons under 18 and increases in maximum fines for the offence from NZ$200 to NZ$2,000 or extended community service. The issue of tagging become a widely debated one following an incident in Auckland during January 2008 in which a middle-aged property owner stabbed one of two teenage taggers to death and was subsequently convicted of manslaughter.

United States

Tracker databases

Graffiti databases have increased in the past decade because they allow vandalism incidents to be fully documented against an offender and help the police and prosecution charge and prosecute offenders for multiple counts of vandalism. They also provide law enforcement the ability to rapidly search for an offender’s moniker or tag in a simple, effective, and comprehensive way. These systems can also help track costs of damage to a city to help allocate an anti-graffiti budget. The theory is that when an offender is caught putting up graffiti, they are not just charged with one count of vandalism; they can be held accountable for all the other damage for which they are responsible. This has two main benefits for law enforcement. One, it sends a signal to the offenders that their vandalism is being tracked. Two, a city can seek restitution from offenders for all the damage that they have committed, not merely a single incident. These systems give law enforcement personnel real-time, street-level intelligence that allows them not only to focus on the worst graffiti offenders and their damage, but also to monitor potential gang violence that is associated with the graffiti.

Gang injunctions

Many restrictions of civil gang injunctions are designed to help address and protect the physical environment and limit graffiti. Provisions of gang injunctions include things such as restricting the possession of marker pens, spray paint cans, or other sharp objects capable of defacing private or public property; spray painting, or marking with marker pens, scratching, applying stickers, or otherwise applying graffiti on any public or private property, including, but not limited to the street, alley, residences, block walls, and fences, vehicles or any other real or personal property. Some injunctions contain wording that restricts damaging or vandalizing both public and private property, including but not limited to any vehicle, light fixture, door, fence, wall, gate, window, building, street sign, utility box, telephone box, tree, or power pole.

Hotlines and reward programs

To help address many of these issues, many local jurisdictions have set up graffiti abatement hotlines, where citizens can call in and report vandalism and have it removed. San Diego’s hotline receives more than 5,000 calls per year, in addition to reporting the graffiti, callers can learn more about prevention. One of the complaints about these hotlines is the response time; there is often a lag time between a property owner calling about the graffiti and its removal. The length of delay should be a consideration for any jurisdiction planning on operating a hotline. Local jurisdictions must convince the callers that their complaint of vandalism will be a priority and cleaned off right away. If the jurisdiction does not have the resources to respond to complaints in a timely manner, the value of the hotline diminishes. Crews must be able to respond to individual service calls made to the graffiti hotline as well as focus on cleanup near schools, parks, and major intersections and transit routes to have the biggest impact. Some cities offer a reward for information leading to the arrest and prosecution of suspects for tagging or graffiti related vandalism. The amount of the reward is based on the information provided, and the action taken.

Search warrants

When police obtain search warrants in connection with a vandalism investigation, they are often seeking judicial approval to look for items such as cans of spray paint and nozzles from other kinds of aerosol sprays; etching tools, or other sharp or pointed objects, which could be used to etch or scratch glass and other hard surfaces; permanent marking pens, markers, or paint sticks; evidence of membership or affiliation with any gang or tagging crew; paraphernalia including any reference to “(tagger’s name)”; any drawings, writing, objects, or graffiti depicting taggers’ names, initials, logos, monikers, slogans, or any mention of tagging crew membership; and any newspaper clippings relating to graffiti crime.SUBWAY CAR - NARA - 554325.jpg|Rampant graffiti hampers visibility into and out of New York City Subway cars (1973).Graffiti Tunnel (2078441177).jpg|Graffiti-lined tunnel in San FranciscoSmear Street Art1.jpg|Graffiti in Los Angeles (2006)Love your country, not government.jpg|Anti-governmental graffiti in Bolinas, CaliforniaI’m a Man Mural in Memphis 2.jpg|Protest art in Memphis, TennesseeCortlandt Alley, New York-L1002108.jpg|Graffiti in Cortlandt Alley, Tribeca, Lower Manhattan (2023)

Documentaries

• 80 Blocks from Tiffany’s (1979), a rare glimpse of the late 1970s in New York City toward the end of the notorious South Bronx gangs, the documentary shows many aspects of the South Bronx’s predominantly Puerto Rican community, including reformed gang members, current gang members, the police, and the community leaders who try to reach out to them.
• Stations of the Elevated (1980), the earliest documentary about subway graffiti in New York City, with music by Charles Mingus
• Style Wars (1983), an early documentary on hip hop culture, made in New York City
• Piece by Piece (2005), a feature-length documentary on the history of San Francisco graffiti from the early 1980s
• Infamy (2005), a feature-length documentary about graffiti culture as told through the experiences of six well-known graffiti writers and a graffiti buffer
• (NEXT: A Primer on Urban Painting) (2005), a documentary about global graffiti culture
• RASH (2005), a feature documentary about Melbourne, Australia, and the artists who make it a living host for street art
• Jisoe (2007), a glimpse into the life of a Melbourne, Australia, graffiti writer shows the audience an example of graffiti in struggling Melbourne Areas.
• Roadsworth: Crossing the Line (2009), about Montréal artist Peter Gibson and his controversial stencil art on public roads
• Exit Through The Gift Shop (2010) was produced by the notorious artist Banksy. It tells the story of Thierry Guetta, a French immigrant in Los Angeles, and his obsession with street art; Shepard Fairey and Invader, whom Guetta discovers is his cousin, are also in the film.
• Still on and non the wiser (2011) is a ninety-minute-long documentation that accompanies the exhibition with the same name in the Kunsthalle Barmen of the Von der Heydt-Museum in Wuppertal (Germany). It draws vivid portrayals of the artists by means of very personal interviews and also catches the creation process of the works before the exhibition was opened.
• Graffiti Wars (2011), a documentary detailing King Robbo’s feud with Banksy as well as the authorities’ differing attitude towards graffiti and street art

Dramas

• Wild Style (1983), about hip hop and graffiti culture in New York City
• Turk 182 (1985), about graffiti as political activism
• Bomb the System (2002), about a crew of graffitists in modern-day New York City
• Quality of Life (2004) was shot in the Mission District of San Francisco, co-written by and starring a retired graffiti writer.
• Wholetrain (2006), a German film

File:Bristol UK graffiti art3.jpg|Bristol_UK_graffiti_art3File:Bristol , Wall Graffiti - geograph.org.uk - 4403171.jpg|Bristol city centre wall graffiti

See also

• Anti-graffiti coating
• Stencil graffiti
• Yarn bombing

References

Further reading

• {{citation |url=http://digital.kenyon.edu/perejournal/vol6/iss1/20 |first=Matthew |last=Champion |title=The Priest, the Prostitute, and the Slander on the Walls: Shifting Perceptions Towards Historic Graffiti |journal=Peregrinations: Journal of Medieval Art and Architecture |volume=6 |issue=1 |year=2017 |pages=5–37}} {{open access}}
• Baird, J. A.; C. Taylor (eds.), 2011, Ancient Graffiti in Context. New York: Routledge.

External links

{{wiktionary|graffiti}}{{commons|Graffiti}}

• NIE, Graffiti, 1905, x,

{{Street Art}}{{hiphop}}{{Media culture}}{{Authority control}}