The Writing IS on the Wall!

This piece was written as a quick response to a request from the local newspaper for opinions about Graffiti and what to do about it (As an issue). The 'issue/phenomenon' of graffiti is a universal one and so is the response; an over-emotive, sanctimonious slather of ignorant, rhetoric with no conclusions.

(Above Graffiti by Banksy - UK)

The Writing IS on the Wall
As a life-long fan of 'real' graffiti art and with a career in community facilitation; I have seen both sides of the 'Spraypainted fence'. With the recent furore and discussion regarding graffiti in Wanganui, it is time to dispel some misconceptions and get realistic about this 'problem'.

The biggest misconception is that graffiti is a new phenomenon to be blamed on 'youth culture'. This suits those among us who delude themselves, that their generation and those before it were upstanding, disciplined and respectful and just didn't do that sort of thing.

Hip-Hop music and Hip-Hop graffiti are a relatively new cultural phenomenon yet graffiti is one of the oldest. Man's first recorded artistic expressions were daubed on the walls of caves and depicted the life and identity of the artist in a stylised way; no different from the 'real graffitti' of today.

Tagging is as old as cave-art and examples of it can be found all over the world. I have seen 2000 year old Roman monuments with epithets carved in Latin; the equivalent of 'Julius woz ere'. At school, the desks were engraved with scrawls, names and insults, going back before WW2. This is an age old societal issue and like others (prostitution, gambling, inebriation) , prohibition has never solved it.
Serious graffiti artists are highly-talented visual artists. They work for free in the public arena. It is essentially an altruistic pursuit. Taggers are the equivalent of a dog marking it's territory; alas the 2 can't be seperated due to the media-driven, ignorance of the public. The difference is simple; Real graffiti transforms ugly, negelected, urban spaces into something beautiful and tagging transforms pleasant, urban spaces into something ugly. Must we persecute all of it?

We cannot eradicate graffiti, however much money and hubris we expend on it. As has been demonstrated by the Castlecliffe project; it is only when we accept and understand graffiti as an essential part of human expression, that will we be able to transform this negative into a positive for the whole community.

Published - Wanganui Chronicle Sat 8th December 2007