Editing Graffiti (section)

== Purpose ==
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".<ref>{{cite book | title=Expression as vandalism: Asger Jorn's "Modifications" | publisher=The University of Chicago Press | author=Karen Kurczynski | year=2008 | pages=293}}</ref>

=== Public art ===
People who appreciate graffiti often believe that it should be on display for everyone in public spaces, not hidden away in a museum or a gallery.<ref name=":12">{{Cite web |title=Street and Graffiti Art Movement Overview |url=https://www.theartstory.org/movement/street-art/ |access-date=2023-03-24 |website=The Art Story |language=en}}</ref> 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.<ref name=":12" /> Art to them is for everyone and should be shown to everyone for free.

=== Personal expression ===
Graffiti is a way of communicating and a way of expressing onesself. 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.<ref name=":02"/> And many graffitists choose to protect their identities and remain anonymous to hinder prosecution.

With the commercialization of graffiti (and [[Hip hop music|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 [[hip hop#Culture|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 [[Extraversion and introversion#Introversion|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.<ref name=banksy>{{cite book |title=Wall and Piece |author=Banksy |year=2005 |publisher=New York: Random House UK |isbn=9781844137862 }}</ref> 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 (region)|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 [[Art exhibition|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.

Graffiti artists may become offended if photographs of their art are published in a commercial context without their permission. In March 2020, the [[Finland|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.<ref>Tamminen, Jari: ''Kuka omistaa graffitin?'' In ''[[Voima (newspaper)|Voima]]'' issue #1/2021, p. 40.</ref>

<gallery mode="packed" caption="Personal graffiti">
Graffiti at the Temple of Philae (XIII).jpg|Drawing at [[Philae temple complex|Temple of Philae]], [[Egypt]], depicting three men with rods, or staves
4091(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|[[Apocalyptic and post-apocalyptic fiction|Post-apocalyptic]] despair
Mermaid Sliema.JPG|[[Mermaid]] in [[Sliema]], [[Malta]]
</gallery>

=== 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.<ref name=ley>{{Cite news|last=Ley |first=David|author2=Roman Cybriwsky|title=Urban Graffiti as Territorial Markers|date=Dec 1974}}</ref>

=== 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 [[Protests against the Iraq War#March 21, 2009|Iraq War Protest]] in Washington, D.C.]]

Many analysts and art critics see artistic value in some graffiti and recognize it as a form of [[public art]]. According to many art researchers, particularly in the Netherlands and in Los Angeles graffiti is an effective tool of social [[emancipation]], or for the achievement of a political goal.<ref name="thimar">{{cite web |author=Martin Thiele |author2=Sally Marsden |date=25 January 2002 |title=P(ART)icipation and Social Change (.doc file) |url=http://www.jss.org.au/media/docs/participation.doc |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050615155724/http://www.jss.org.au/media/docs/participation.doc |archive-date=15 June 2005 |access-date=11 October 2006 |format=DOC}}</ref>

In times of conflict graffiti has offered a means of communication and self-expression for members of these socially, ethnically, or racially divided communities, and has been an effective tool for establishing dialog. The [[Berlin Wall]] was extensively covered by graffiti reflecting social pressures related to the oppressive [[Soviet Union|Soviet]] rule over the [[East Germany|GDR]].

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]], [[anarchism|anarchist]], [[feminism|feminist]], and [[Anti-consumerism|anti-consumerist]] messages throughout the [[London Underground]] system during the late 1970s and early 1980s.<ref name="souther">{{cite web|publisher=Southern Records |title=Crass Discography (Christ's reality asylum) |url=http://www.southern.com/southern/label/CRC/09400a.html |access-date=11 October 2006 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060912012809/http://www.southern.com/southern/label/CRC/09400a.html |archive-date=12 September 2006 }}</ref> In [[Amsterdam]], graffiti was a major part of the punk scene. The city was covered in names such as "De Zoot", "Vendex", and "Dr Rat".<ref name="stockho">{{Cite web |url=https://www.fria.nu/artikel/20057 |title=SFT: Ny dokumentär reder ut graffitins punkiga rötter |date=7 October 2007 |first=Jacob |last=Kimvall |language=sv}}. Dr Rat died in 1981 of an overdose at the age of 20 and was somewhat of an underground hero.</ref> 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|Police car graffitied with the anarchist [[circle-A]] symbol]]
The student protests and general strike of [[May 1968 in France|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.

Billboards and other consumer advertising have been the target of graffiti. From 1978 to 1994 tobacco, alcohol and other advertising was regularly painted over in Australia by the group Billboard Utilising Graffitists Against Unhealthy Promotions (BUGA UP). At one point, up to fifty billboards were altered a week, with the group specialising in altering advertising slogans and images to change their meaning.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Cadambi |first=Anjali |date=2021-09-30 |title=Billboard Utilising Graffitists Against Unhealthy Promotions (BUGA UP) campaigns against tobacco advertising, Australia, 1978-1994 |url=https://commonslibrary.org/billboard-utilising-graffitists-against-unhealthy-promotions-buga-up-campaigns-against-tobacco-advertising-australia-1978-1994/ |access-date=2025-04-09 |website=The Commons Social Change Library |language=en-AU}}</ref>

{{quote box|align=right|width=220px|quote=I think graffiti writing is a way of defining what our generation is like. Excuse the French, we're not a bunch of p---- artists. Traditionally artists have been considered soft and mellow people, a little bit kooky. Maybe we're a little bit more like pirates that way. We defend our territory, whatever space we steal to paint on, we defend it fiercely.|source=—Sandra "Lady Pink" Fabara<ref name=chang>{{cite book |title=Can't Stop Won't Stop: A History of the Hip-Hop Generation |last=Chang |first=Jeff |author-link=Jeff Chang (journalist) |year=2005 |publisher=St. Martin's Press |location=New York |isbn=978-0-312-30143-9 |page=[https://archive.org/details/cantstopwontstop00chang/page/124 124]|title-link=Can't Stop Won't Stop: A History of the Hip-Hop Generation }}</ref>}}

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.<ref name="ziptopia-switch">{{cite web|url=https://www.zipcar.com/ziptopia/city-living/temporary-street-art-changing-the-graffiti-game|title=Temporary Street Art That's Changing The Graffiti Game|work=Ziptopia|first=Steven|last=Harrington |access-date=26 August 2018}}</ref><ref name="huffpost-streetart">{{cite web|url=https://www.huffingtonpost.com/ron-english/street-art-its-not-meant-_b_5610496.html|title=Street Art: It's Not Meant to be Permanent|work=Huffington Post|first=Ron|last=English|date=6 December 2017|access-date=26 August 2018}}</ref>

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.<ref name=voice>{{cite news|newspaper=Village Voice |title=Border Crossings |url=http://www.villagevoice.com/art/0030,levin,16706,13.html |date=1 August 2000 |access-date=11 October 2006 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061107150218/http://www.villagevoice.com/art/0030%2Clevin%2C16706%2C13.html |archive-date=7 November 2006 }}</ref>
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]].<ref name="tanyabaxter-Gallery">{{cite web|url=http://tanyabaxtercontemporary.com/banksy#!Banksy_Flying_Copper__screen_print_on_paper__100_x_70_cm|title= Banksy |work=Tanya Baxter Contemporary Gallery|access-date=26 August 2018}}</ref><ref name="haynes-banksy">{{cite web|url=http://www.haynesfineart.com/artists/Banksy--|title= Banksy |work=Haynes Fine Art|access-date=26 August 2018}}</ref>

Berlin human rights activist [[Irmela Mensah-Schramm]] has received global media attention and numerous awards for her 35-year campaign of effacing [[Neo-Nazism|neo-Nazi]] and other [[Far-right politics|right-wing extremist]] graffiti throughout Germany, often by altering hate speech in humorous ways.<ref name=":1">{{Cite news|last=Ramsel|first=Yannick|date=8 January 2021|title=Die Hakenkreuzjägerin|work=Der Spiegel|url=https://www.spiegel.de/politik/deutschland/irmela-mensah-schramm-beseitigt-rassistische-graffiti-und-aufkleber-die-hakenkreuzjaegerin-a-00000000-0002-0001-0000-000174784623}}</ref><ref name=":4">{{Cite news|last=Cataneo|first=Emily|date=12 April 2018|title=The Berliner Who Evaded Arrest|work=Off Assignment|url=https://www.offassignment.com/articles/emily-cataneo}}</ref>

<gallery mode="packed" caption="Political graffiti around the world">
File:Graffiti - No To Vaccine - Ystad-2021.jpg|[[Anti-vaccine activism|Anti-vaccine]] graffiti with [[orthodox cross]] at the Catholic Church in [[Ystad]], 2021
File:Anti Iraqi war graffiti by street artist Sony Montana in Cancun, Mexico.jpg|Anti-Iraq 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 (politician)|Filip Filipović]]", who was the [[League of Communists of Yugoslavia|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 [[Bethlehem]]
File:BerlinAnhalterBunker.jpg|WWII bunker near [[Berlin Anhalter Bahnhof|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|[[Anarchism|Anarchist]] graffiti on the train line leading to Central Station in [[Amsterdam]]
File: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 culture
File:Keep your rosaries graffiti.jpg|[[Female graffiti artists|Feminist graffiti]] in [[A Coruña]], Spain, that reads ''Enough with rosaries in our ovaries''
File:Berliner Mauer.jpg|[[Berlin Wall]]: "Anyone who wants to keep the world as it is, does not want it to remain"
</gallery>

=== Genocide denial ===
{{Undue weight|date=December 2023}}
In the [[Serbia]]n capital, [[Belgrade]], the graffiti depicting a uniformed former [[General officer|general]] of [[Army of Republika Srpska|Serb army]] and [[War Criminal|war criminal]], convicted at [[International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia|ICTY]] for war crimes and crimes against humanity, including [[Bosnian genocide|genocide]] and [[Ethnic cleansing in the Bosnian War|ethnic cleansing]] in [[Bosnian War]], [[Ratko Mladić]], appeared in a military salute alongside the words "General, thanks to your mother".<ref name="rferl.org">{{cite web |author1=Nevena Bogdanović |author2=Predrag Urošević |author3=Andy Heil |title=Graffiti War: Battle In The Streets Over Ratko Mladic Mural |url=https://www.rferl.org/a/serbia-mladic-mural-protests/31555357.html |website=Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty |access-date=28 August 2022 |language=en |location=Belgrade |date=November 10, 2021}}</ref> 
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".<ref name="calvertjournal.com-Eror">{{cite web |author1=Aleks Eror |title=How Serbian street art is using the past to shape the future |url=https://www.calvertjournal.com/articles/show/13353/ratko-mladic-mural-belgrade-serbia-are-revision-history-shape-future |website=The Calvert Journal |access-date=28 August 2022 |language=en |date=14 December 2021}}</ref> 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 youths are being exposed to the celebration and affirmation of war-criminals as part of their "formal education" and "inheritance".<ref name="balkandiskurs.com">{{cite web |author1=Taylor Whitsell |author2=Kristina Gadže |title=New Generations Still Follow in a War Criminal's Footsteps |url=https://balkandiskurs.com/en/2021/12/15/new-generations-still-follow-in-a-war-criminals-footsteps/ |website=Balkan Diskurs |access-date=28 August 2022 |location=Belgrade |language=en |date=15 December 2021}}</ref>

[[File:Mural u Baru, prikaz ratnog zločinca Ratka Mladića.jpg|250px|thumb|right|Mural in [[Bar, Montenegro]], depicting the war criminal [[Ratko Mladić]]]]
There are examples of genocide denial through the celebration and affirmation of war criminals throughout the region of Western Balkans, inhabited by Serbs, using graffiti. Several of these are found in the Serbian capital, and many more across Serbia and the Bosnian and Herzegovinian administrative entity, Republika Srpska, which is the ethnic Serbian majority enclave.<ref name="calvertjournal.com-Eror"/><ref name="ba.boell.org-Druško">{{cite web |author1=Dženana Karup-Druško |author1-link= |title=Denying genocide and celebrating war criminals may only be stopped by the adoption of a law that sanctions the actions |url=https://ba.boell.org/en/2019/05/16/denying-genocide-and-celebrating-war-criminals-may-only-be-stopped-adoption-law-sanctions |website=Heinrich-Böll-Stiftung |access-date=28 August 2022 |location=Sarajevo |language=en |date=16 May 2019}}</ref> 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 [[Ministry of Internal Affairs (Serbia)|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".<ref name="rferl.org"/><ref name="europeanwesternbalkans.com-Popović"/> Consequently, on 9 November 2021, Serbian heavy police in riot gear, with the graffiti creators and their supporters,<ref name="balkandiskurs.com"/> 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,<ref name="rferl.org"/> and even arrested two civic activist for throwing eggs at the graffiti.<ref name="europeanwesternbalkans.com-Popović">{{cite web |author1=Sofija Popović |title=The case of Mladić mural shows that authorities in Serbia have no intention to deal with war crimes |url=https://europeanwesternbalkans.com/2021/11/12/the-case-of-mladic-mural-shows-that-authorities-in-serbia-have-no-intention-to-deal-with-war-crimes/ |website=European Western Balkans |access-date=28 August 2022 |location=Belgrade |date=12 November 2021}}</ref>

=== Offensive graffiti ===
[[File:Stop graffitti.jpg|thumb|Gang symbol markings on public property, [[Millwood, Washington]]]]

Graffiti 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).<ref name=halsey>{{Cite journal | last1 = Halsey | first1 = M. | last2 = Young | first2 = A. | title = The Meanings of Graffiti and Municipal Administration | journal = [[Australian and New Zealand Journal of Criminology]] | volume = 35 | issue = 2 | pages = 165–86 | year = 2002 | doi = 10.1375/acri.35.2.165 | s2cid = 145251151 }}</ref> 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 [[heteroglossia|heteroglot]] and thus a 'unique set of conditions' in a cultural context.<ref name=holqu>{{cite book | last = Holquist | first = M. | editor-last = Bakhtin | editor-first = M.M. | title = The Dialogic Imagination | url = https://archive.org/details/dialogicimaginat0000bakh | url-access = registration | chapter = Glossary | publisher = Austin: University of Texas Press | page = [https://archive.org/details/dialogicimaginat0000bakh/page/423 423] | year = 1981}}</ref>

A spatial local code for example, could be that there is a certain youth group in an area that is engaging heavily in racist activities. So, for residents (knowing the local code), a graffiti containing only the name or abbreviation of this gang already is a racist expression, reminding the offended people of their gang activities. Also a graffiti is in most cases, the [[herald]] of more serious criminal activity to come.<ref name=kelling>{{cite book | last1 = Kelling | first1 = G. | last2 = Coles | first2 = C. | title = Fixing Broken Windows | publisher = New York: Martin Kessler Books | year = 1996}}</ref> A person who does not know these gang activities would not be able to recognize the meaning of this graffiti. Also if a tag of this youth group or gang is placed on a building occupied by asylum seekers, for example, its racist character is even stronger.

By making the graffiti less explicit (as adapted to social and legal constraints),<ref name=barker>{{cite book | last = Barker | first = M. | title = The New Racism | publisher = London: Junction Books | year = 1981}}</ref> these drawings are less likely to be removed, but do not lose their threatening and offensive character.<ref name=lynn>{{Cite journal | last1 = Lynn | first1 = Nick | last2 = Lea | first2 = Susan J. | title = 'Racist' graffiti: text, context and social comment | journal = Visual Communication | volume = 4 | pages = 39–63 | year = 2005 | doi = 10.1177/1470357205048935 | s2cid = 145493422 }}</ref>

Elsewhere, activists in Russia have used painted [[caricature]]s of local officials with their mouths as [[pothole]]s, to show their anger about the poor state of the roads.<ref>{{cite news |last=Schreck |first=Carl |date=19 June 2015 |title=Russian politicians mocked with guerrilla pothole portraits |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/jun/19/russia-pothole-portraits-activists-banksy |website= New East Network |access-date=24 September 2015}}</ref> In [[Manchester]], England, a graffitists painted obscene images around potholes, which often resulted in them being repaired within 48 hours.<ref>{{cite news |date=29 April 2015 |title=Meet the man using penises to fill potholes |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/men/the-filter/11570595/Meet-the-man-using-penises-to-fill-potholes.html |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220111/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/men/the-filter/11570595/Meet-the-man-using-penises-to-fill-potholes.html |archive-date=2022-01-11 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live |website= The Telegraph |access-date=24 September 2015}}{{cbignore}}</ref>