Leaving Your Mark

A Brief History of Graffiti

Story and Photographs by Jack Leggett

My recent Google search found 8,367,351 hits for graffiti. The words graffiti and graffito are from the Italian word graffiato ("scratched"). "Graffiti," was used historically to describe works of art produced by scratching a design into a surface. Now the most popular mediums are spray paint and markers. From a few words written on a wall to elaborate murals covering public surfaces like walls along freeways and buildings, graffiti is all around us, as people seek to leave a mark of their passing, create what they consider a work of art, or mark the turf on which their gang reigns.

Some writers consider the prehistoric cave painters of 30,000 years ago to be some of the first graffiti artists. Of course, it appears likely those artists were working with the permission and encouragement of their culture, unlike current graffiti artists (sometimes called, "vandals" and arrested for criminal mischief). Examples of graffiti from ancient times in Greece and Rome have survived, notably in Pompeii. The content and sentiments seem oddly modern and familiar. Lost love was then, as now a common theme:

Quisquis amat. veniat. Veneri volo frangere costas

fustibus et lumbos debilitare deae.

Si potest illa mihi tenerum pertundere pectus

quit ego non possim caput illae frangere fuste?

English Translation:

Whoever loves, go to hell. I want to break Venus's ribs

with a club and deform her hips.

If she can break my tender heart

why can't I hit her over the head?

-CIL IV, 1284.
(Wikipedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Graffiti, 7/7/09)

Italian Graffiti Today's vandalism may become tomorrow's historical record that communicates the lives of people in a more down to earth manner than formal records. Across the Southwestern United States, there are tens of thousands of examples of rock art that served as markers, ceremonial sites, clan marks, and other purposes. Pioneers left their names carved into rocks along the Oregon Trail, and it was common for 19th century tourists to carve their names into historical sites, while breaking off pieces as souvenirs. Some people still do.

Modern graffiti began developing as a guerrilla art form, with practitioners finding a way to express their art outside of the usual artistic venues, from which they felt excluded. Of course, gangsters as well as artists are well represented in graffiti, with gang tags marking turf and making boasts or threats. Graffiti has also been used to convey political sentiments and as an alternative to traditional advertising. There are even whimsical variations on graffiti. One group, the Skeinistas, place knitted cosies on trees, benches and lampposts (www.nationalpost.com).

Like Rodney Dangerfield though, graffiti artists often can't get any respect.

Graffiti suspects arrested (Mankato Free Press 7/6/09)

Three charged in graffiti binge (www.recordonline.com)

And some graffiti does not deserve respect:

Swastikas spray-painted on N.Y. synagogue (jta.org, July 6, 2009)

"The bright orange swastikas on Congregation Beth Shalom Chabad of Mineola, on Long Island, as well as on three cars parked nearby were discovered Friday morning, Newsday reported. The attack comes a week after swastikas were spray-painted on two Manhattan synagogues."

Whether an art form, a political message, or just "leaving your mark", graffiti and its attendant creativity is here to stay.