Graffiti

On Tuesday we were looking at graffiti artists and their work. We were given the task of preparing a short presentation about the history of graffiti and the different styles, like 'blockbuster',  'throw-up' and 'bombing'. The first form of graffiti arose in the stone age in the form of cave paintings. It could be argued that the Egyptian tombs, stained-glass windows and the Sistine chapel are forms of graffiti. It became commonly known in the early '80s, when youth used to spray subway carriages, tunnels and the streets around them.

Later that day a graffiti artist called Roy told us about his personal experience of graffiti. We looked at a film called 'Style Wars' which was about graffiti in New York during the early '80s, the people who created it, and the reasons for why they did it. Some of the reasons were race relations, poverty and deprivation, and the prevalence of drugs in society. Hip-hop culture also contributed to this movement for social change. Afterwards we had a go at graffiti ourselves, lettering the word 'capture' on sheets of paper, investigating shape and form.