These art pieces were performed anonymously and then later captured on photographs.
The graffiti shown in these photos is a very common style of graffiti found in almost every town. The meaning of the graffiti is not necessarily clear and some of the art is up for interpretation. Each piece was tagged by the artist, yet we do not know the real names of the people who created this graffiti. These specific pieces were found covering an entire building off 3rd Street.
graffiti
more graffiti
even more graffiti
The following is an interview with a graffiti artist.
This interview took place on Indiana University campus with an undergraduate art student named Joseph Campbell.
Clair: What is the meaning and function of graffiti to you?
Joseph: As a graffiti artist I think the meaning and function go hand in hand. The function is … it’s a way of free self expression and it’s meant to be rebellious and that’s the meaning. And there’s different types of meaning to like gang graffiti, territorial, political, artistic, etc. and it differs from person to person.
Clair: How does graffiti fit into folklore?
Joseph: It’s a voice of the people at a certain time. It’s a lot of what people want to say but can’t…at least not comfortably in public. It’s a voice of a population or community.
Clair: When you do graffiti what, what kind do you generally do: political, artistic?
Joseph: I do a mixture of a both political and artistic. But my main focus is always artistic expression.
Clair: Where do you usually like to present your work and why?
Joseph: The majority of what I do is on smaller canvas or pieces of cardboard, or basically anything I can find so I can take it beyond buildings and bring it into the home. I do it in places you wouldn’t expect it so when you take a certain path you just stumble upon it.
Meaning and Function
When we think of graffiti, we generally think of the graffiti we see almost every day decorating our buildings. Since graffiti is seen as an illegal act, and in most cases is, we tend to think of graffiti as gang related or political. However, graffiti does not have to go against something or be used in a gang related way. It can also simply be a form of artistic expression. Its meaning can be to capture the viewer’s imagination. Artistic graffiti can also have the function of beatifying a building. For example, People’s Park uses graffiti to create an interesting, artistic atmosphere. While graffiti is a great way to voice the opinions of the people and express one’s views in an anonymous way, it is also a great medium for artistic expression. In many cases political and artistic graffiti share the same meaning and function. Both are used to capture the attention of a community. Graffiti allows people to say what they want or create any images they want without any consequences. Graffiti allows people to reach out to others. Whether it be to state a view on the upcoming election, or to create a picture of the earth in hopes to get people thinking about saving the environment, graffiti is a great way to speak to a community and be heard.