Graffiti: An Anthropological Analysis Graffiti Is One

Graffiti: An Anthropological Analysis

Graffiti is one of the oldest extant art forms: graffiti has been found on ancient monuments as well as on subways and billboards across the urban landscape of today (Alonso 1998: 3). The piece of graffiti I chose to use was a series of images inscribed on a No Parking sign. I found this piece of graffiti [URL: http://www.flickr.com/photos/livenature/235459080/] on a common photo-sharing application known as 'Flickr' in which individuals share various photographs. This photograph came from a California-based photographer and was part of a photo-sharing ring of individuals who specialize in taking photographs of graffiti and street art. The impetus behind the group is to showcase graffiti as an interesting and legitimate art form.

Presentation of information

This particular piece of graffiti is instructive because it involves the desecration of a sign representing the law. The law specifically tells the viewer not to do something -- that there is 'No Parking' in the area. In defiance of this, the artist or artists use words and images of a personal nature to render this sign into a political, anarchist statement by showing the power of the individual to make a mockery of the generic-looking sign. The images on the sign are diffuse: jumping frogs (one of who has a dead 'x' for eyes); a sticker showing two men arm-in-arm, and the words 'Earth' as well as some unintelligible verbiage that may be in a foreign language.

Analysis

Graffiti is often termed the act of claiming the right of citizens to create art in public spaces. For a fee, advertisers can claim the right to advertise in public locations, thus defacing public property in a legal fashion for money. Everyone who takes the subway has seen commercial billboards, signs, and other images just as, if not more intrusive, than graffiti. Artists who lack financial capital to purchase space to transmit their art must do so 'illegally.' It is "illegal to paint murals in celebration of line, color, and the beauty of life on a dull gray train trestle for the viewing pleasure of people on their way to work, all without demanding a cent for the service. That these surfaces are referred to as 'public property' is a cruel joke on all of us. That a billboard encouraging the consumption of hard alcohol is 'private property' when it exists only for the public view is another cruel joke" (Neelo 2003). Graffiti can function as a citizens' claim to personal space through the medium of art. Without any permission or red tape, and without having the money of a large advertiser, the citizen can create a work of beauty with graffiti.

However, in the case of the 'No Parking' sign, the art is not beautiful, but rather cartoon-like and crude. This illustrates another function of graffiti -- its political and subversive self-expressive potential. By selecting a sign, which represents the state, the artist gains some sense of control over the elements of society that say 'yes' and 'no' to citizens' actions. In many cities, residents are angry about parking tickets and the lack of parking. They resent the way in which their free flow of movement is restricted. By defacing a 'No Parking' sign, a citizen affirms his or her right to be wherever he or she chooses in an anonymous format, without getting a ticket (unless the graffiti artist is caught in the act). Defacing the sign is an exhibition of the private individual's strength and authority over the state. No image of the state is so strong that its images cannot be defaced.

Expressing political discontent is another important component of graffiti, and signs are very popular locations for graffiti art. This particular 'No Parking' sign seems to be a repository of various spray-painted, unintelligible slogans, possibly suggesting that as more individuals pile on graffiti, the sense that it is 'okay' to deface the sign increases. An act of graffiti enlarges the sense of where it is possible to create, in both a positive and negative fashion: "Graffiti escapes the boring, rectangular cage of canvases so well, and the beauty of it is that the piece does not stop at the borders of what is painted, but instead carries further and incorporates its surroundings" (Neelo 2003).

Some graffiti on signs has a very specific political purpose, of course, such as graffiti defacing signs promoting a particular politician or cause. In the 'No Parking' case, the intentions behind the creator's actions are ambiguous. Sometimes the meaning of graffiti is intentionally elusive, though, and designed to communicate only to some people, not everyone who looks at the image. A good example of this is gang-related graffiti, which is often used to communicate to rival gangs. In Los Angeles, for example, the 'Bloods' and the 'Crips' street gangs were famous for their use of rival graffiti: "Gang graffiti in Los Angeles serves as an important text to understanding these groups, as the graffiti delineates space, and reemphasizes existing territory. It also serves as a tool of communication, as it constantly challenges the hegemonic discourses of the dominant, and it aids understanding the social and cultural meaning of these marginalized groups" (Alonso 1998:3).

An example of 'Bloods' graffiti in a photograph entitled "Denver Lane Blood gang graffiti near 109th and Figueroa in 1996" depicts a pointed finger in the air, in the unmistakable colors of the Bloods. The red of the image is a stark contrast against the white background, and the image is deliberately designed to communicate to other Bloods and Crips a specific message [URL: http://www.streetgangs.com/graffiti/bloods/dlbhand.html]. Gang graffiti often has an ironic undertone: on one hand, it is very public and designed to mark territory, while on the other hand it is very private, given that non-gang members may not find its meaning intelligible and simply see red or blue markings.

The potential for graffiti to give voice to extra-legal impulses, either through gangs or simply by defacing public property, has caused many cities to devote considerable time and effort to expunging it. Some theories of criminology, such as 'broken window' theory, suggest that when small crimes show a lack of respect for the law, as in the case of graffiti, then overall disrespect for the law increases in the area. "Broken Window Theory suggests that the prevention of crime will be accomplished by steps like painting over graffiti, keeping buildings in good repair, maintaining clean streets and parks and responding effectively to petty street crime (Zimbardo 2012).