These forms of messages and writings from ancient times form the basis of what Graffiti is today. Examples of Viking Graffiti can be seen at Newgrange Mound in Ireland and at the Mayan site of Takal in Guatemala images of the Mayan’s way of life can be seen in Graffiti scratched along side sculptures on their buildings. These images and writings provide us an insight into the normal street life and how ancient communities worked and communicated.Īncient forms of Graffiti can be found not just in the Mediterranean, but also around the world. This was scratched onto the surface of rocks and dates back to the 1 st century B.C. The only known source of an early Arabic language came from a piece of graffiti in southern Syria. These types of early communication carried on for thousands of years and evolved into early written languages such Egyptian hieroglyphs and Chinese calligraphy. However the best examples were painted by using different chalks and types of coal and other ground-up materials to create the colours and paints. They were most commonly made by scratching images onto the surface with sharp tools. They were carved on walls and ceiling within the caves that people lived in and also on the tools they used such as bones, stones and pieces of wood. In fact Graffiti can be traced back to the very earliest forms of written and drawn communication such as cave paintings and carvings. Potters, who would glaze their pots and then scratch a design onto the surface, used this form of artwork.Īs long as there has been written communication there has been a form of Graffiti. The related word Graffito involves scratching through a layer of pigment to reveal another layer of pigment underneath it. The word Graffiti is devised from the Italian word Graffiato meaning “scratched” and is the name given for any type of lettering or image that is scrawled, scratched, marked or painted in any manner on someone’s property or any object. What is its meaning and history? How it has been influenced by this history and how it has become accepted so it can be used in modern day communities. To understand how people and mainstream industries can use graffiti in a positive way we must first understand what graffiti is. I hope to change the ways people view forms of Graffiti and give them a chance to see it as a true art form with it’s own artistic merits. In this Dissertation I will explain how graffiti can and is being used in positive ways to benefit communities, industries and the lifestyles of others. I do however believe these few examples give the rest of Graffiti a bad name and because of this gives people the wrong idea of what true creative Graffiti is. While I do partly agree with this view and do recognise that some Graffiti such as quick “tags” and poorly done messages like “mark was here” and “Jeff 4 Kate” for example are pointless.
To them it is an unsightly image of criminal behaviour and one of the main reasons areas of the community become abandoned and because of this they choose not to recognise the artistic merits and creative thought that goes into some of these artworks. They see it as a form of vandalism, which should and is punishable by law.
The second view is the one I feel most people view Graffiti as. The use of the urban landscape, as a canvas is always a constant to me and will continue to provide me with new and challenging ways in which to produce my work. A wall can become a canvas in which art can be made.
My drive is the need to see art on blank spaces, to breath life into otherwise derelict sites. My ideas and my feelings can be shown through the medium of art. It gives me the opportunity to express myself. These include brightening otherwise dull areas of space, and advertising new products in an exciting method.įor me, Graffiti is a release from day to day life and the norm. Graffiti, if done right can be used in many different positive ways. Graffiti is a true form of art that is recognized as having a profound positive effect on many different lifestyles. The first view on Graffiti is how I myself see it. Graffiti is still wildly seen in two very contrasting views. The problem I have is although I like Graffiti and recognise it as an art form, from it’s small sketches and font styles, to large multi-stories murals and stencils. See also numbers from 1 to 10 in different languages.The purpose of this article is to get a greater understanding of what the art form called “Graffiti” is and how I can use it in a positive way to further my career as a Designer or Artist. The following is a list of names of the numbers from 11 to 20 in several different