Professional paper
Graffiti Writing as a Form of Subcultural Practice
Katerina Duda
; Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, University of Zagreb, Zagreb, Croatia
Abstract
The subculture group Graffiti Writing, labelled as delinquent, is recognizable by leaving their marks on city frontages. The sole purpose of Graffiti Writing is to write nicknames, to leaving
one’s mark on as many surfaces and as perfect as possible within the rules of the writing expression. The letters and words become exclusively visual images which give the writer the deserved integrity. Mentioned as particularly interesting are the relations within the group based on a strict hierarchy and codified behaviour. Equally interesting, when observing writing within the context of hip-hop culture, which is very often gender determined, is the question of
the relation to women writers which are very scarce in number. Given that writing originated in a poor society, and the materials used to write were often stolen, a specific conception of private and public and good and bad developed within the group. The paradox is that the underground movement which was seen as something intolerable and in conflict with the law can now be found as a part of the cultural mainstream. The inclusion of Graffiti Writing into the mainstream caused for it to disappear in its original form. The contemporary movement can be called post-writing” not only because of its commercialization, but also because of the change in the very concept of writing. The tendency to sterilize and gentrify cities, where public space is inevitably monitored by security cameras, is in turn causing a subculture group to disappear.
Keywords
subculture groups; graffiti writing; hierarchy; hip-hop culture; privacy; commercialization; post-writing
Hrčak ID:
64475
URI
Publication date:
15.6.2010.
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