A Look at Graffiti

Eli Aura Standing In Front of Lakeforest Mall

Graffiti is an art form that dates back thousands of years in places like Ancient Greece, Egypt, and Rome. This indicates that artistic expression is something that is embedded into the human experience across many different cultures.

Although graffiti has been documented to have been used in America since the early 20th century, it became even more popular in the late 1960s with the help of gangs, political activists, and the inner city youth. Many places in the U.S. see it as a complete nuisance and have made it illegal since it is technically vandalism if it's done on someone else's property, but all in all this has done very little in preventing people from actually participating in making graffiti.

Cornbread, A.K.A Darryl McCray is generally credited as one of the first major pioneers of the modern graffiti movement. He was known for getting in trouble with the law as a kid but as he got older he became more interested in making this type of art. He wasn't a part of a gang, but he often made his art by gang graffiti, earning street cred as a result. By the time the ‘70s and ‘80s rolled around, graffiti gained more widespread popularity. It quickly became an international phenomenon when it reached both Europe and Asia.

Graffiti was and continues to be used to convey a message to an audience. Gang members may use it to either mark territory or to intimidate enemies. Others use graffiti to symbolize freedom or a desire for change.

I decided to check out some graffiti with a friend near where I live out of pure curiosity (shoutout to Eman, the creator of Newport Network) and it was a very fun experience as I never had a strong interest in tracking down graffiti in my life before.

Eman and I have been going on several adventures to find this beautiful art. We spotted them in places that you would usually expect to see it like under brides, near train tracks, etc. We even traveled out to D.C. to find some. Despite the fact that we probably did not go to the all the right areas to find it, we did however found this one spot that was covered with it!

Graffiti also doesn't have to be serious or "deep" either. A lot of it is just random or silly. Yesterday Eman, his brother Elias, and I saw a lot graffiti of naked women. We're not sure who would take the time to make something like this, but we still appreciated it because the three of us were in an unspoken agreement that the naked female body is a form of art itself.

Elias recorded this little mini clip from where we were at yesterday.

I challenge you all to go on a graffiti hunting adventure yourselves to see what you can find! Graffiti is a beautiful form of art that humans have been creating for centuries. From Civil RIghts to hip-hop to playful art to naked women, graffiti can mean a lot of different things to many people. There are those that will see it not as anything more than a destruction of valuable property, but I believe that it is way more than that and can have a huge impact on both the creators and their audience.

Disclaimer: *We do not condone vandalism*