Philosophy of Graffiti
Nowadays graffiti refers to the latest main federal pictorial movement.
From one country to another one, we can find similar visual codes which enable to gather creations and artists from all corners of the earth. This art is made up of two main trends: asserting one’s individuality by writing one’s name, and representing a collective identity through murals paying homage to a community as it used to be done in Mexico City and in New York.
These orders were a way of popular education by making national history easily accessible to people in the form of pictures in a public space. Moreover, we have to know that in the 1940’s-1950’s in Mexico, paper was a very expensive medium so adverts were already regularly painted on the city walls. It was cheaper than posters printing. It is also through this way that painting on the walls became a tradition in Mexico.
In the early 1970’s, Afrika Bambaataa (DJ and ex-member of a gang) created an organization called Zulu Nation. This is how graffiti, rap, dance, and Djaying merged within Hip Hop movement. Since then, these disciplines and their participants were responsible for conveying values of peace, love and unity. Surpassing itself is another essential point. It means that people who are getting involved in Hip Hop have to dominate their emotions, be willing to progress with positivity, and be ready to learn from mistakes they made in their artistic practice or in the daily life in order to improve.
Expressing one’s identity is the main claim: it is the most original, the most beautiful, and the most amazing way of writing his name that makes a writer become famous. A writer makes it to the top when his style is considered as a reference by other writers, like Daim for instance.
Graffiti-artists are inspired by everything around them: the characters from comics, video games and movies, political messages are often represented. When an activist from this background or an activist’s relation is dead, when a writer’s baby is born, a mural to honnour him is immediately painted.
At the present time, there is no school to learn about graffiti. It is a popular culture you can learn in the field in touch with writers, or as a self-taugh person thanks to internet, books and magazines which also create social link.
