In case you hadn't noticed, we have quite a few graffiti vandals in Charlotte.Photographer Jonathan Jones traveled throughout Charlotte to photograph some of the recent graffiti that has popped up around town and contributed to this post and photo slideshow.
The term graffiti comes from the Greek word graphein, which means, "to write." There many types of graffiti: gang graffiti, graffiti done by 'taggers', hate/political graffiti, and generic graffiti. Graffiti is illegal and considered vandalism if done without permission.
Graffiti is words, colors, and shapes drawn or scratched on buildings, overpasses, train cars and other surfaces.Graffiti can range from simple, one-color monikers (nicknames) called "tags" repeated on many surfaces to more complex and time consuming graffiti, in which the vandal uses several colors.
Taggers usually think of their graffiti as a "piece," presumably short for "masterpiece." This kind of piece is usually designed ahead of time, and may have been sketched out in a notebook beforehand. Many taggers believe what they are doing is street art and not a crime.
Gang graffiti is done to usually done to mark their territory or "turf" by tagging a space such as a wall on building near or on the boundaries of a gang's turf to inform other gangs of their presence. The tag will usually have the name of the gang.Gang Graffiti is also used to communicate with other gangs- usually to warn them of a coming assassination of a certain member. The will sometimes write the member's street name and crossing it out, or by finding tags by the member and crossing them out. If a gang overwrites another gang's tag, it is also the symbol of a takeover of a gang's turf or a sign of aggression toward the gang.
Generic graffiti is non-threatening, with messages like "Jack loves Jane" or "Class of 2003"). A recent form of graffiti is vandals posting stickers on property and buildings.
Additional Graffiti resources:
* City of Charlotte graffiti page
* USDOJ: 2005 National Gang Threat Assessment
* For Parents: Is your child involved in a gang?
* Prevention: Tips for Businesses
* Graffiti Removal
Gang Profiles:
*Mara Salvatrucha aka MS-13 *18th Street Gang *Crips *Bloods *Latin Kings *Surenos aka SUR 13 *United Blood Nation *Vice Lords *Mexican Mafia
- Local graffiti vandal website
7 COMMENTS:
I'd merely like to point out that not all graffiti done illegally falls outside the realm of art. I understand the concern over gang violence and gang-related tags. But I think you're distinction that art and graffiti differ on account of permission alone should be removed. I read in Artforum last month about Space Invader and his little square tiles "invading" cities across the world. Banksy also garners a lot of attention and has even sold prints of his work for substantial sums. Both of these recognized contributors to world and urban culture work illegally by most cities' laws. The illegality of graffiti is a legal structure which does nothing to determine artistic merit.
So will you help to paint over this crap?
I've been documenting graffiti for over 18 years.. The statement that you made that all graffiti is illegal is so wrong. I have a dvd series called OverSpray and most of the graffiti in this dvd is very legal..
Carl Weston
Videograf Productions
Graffitivideos.com
Graffiti is not art. Art does not cost me $700 to clean up. Paint your own house with your art and leave my business alone.
Graffiti applied to public or private property without permission is a crime.
graffiti is da bombdigidy... i dont know why everyone thinks that graffiti is bad. i know that graffiti that is gang related is bad but in my opinion graffiti isn't always bad. it is a art and wouldnt you rather have someone doing graffiti then joining gangs or doing drugs. its a hobby that a lot of teenagers like to do and its just a hobby. In my opinion it is just like someone playing sports because it is a hobby that they liike to do.
Take it from a native of a legit city: graffiti=character and the "city" of Charlotte definitely needs a lot of that.
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