Graffiti

For my cultural event I wanted to do something a little different and explore a sub-culture not a lot of people are familiar with. Graffiti has always been looked at as an act of vandalism. Legally it is, but there really is a culture behind it that a lot of people take very seriously and feel very strongly about. To them it is art, but not everyone would agree with that. Graffiti takes on many different forms and is more complex than people think. Many people who lack the knowledge of this culture would characterize graffiti as an illegal and disrespectful act. I’m not going to say that all graffiti artists do it for the same purpose, but the one’s I had the pleasure of meeting do. After meeting them I did some more research and discovered that there is greater reasoning and passion backing the actions of these artists. Those are the people who disprove the misperceptions and make graffiti art something beautiful.

I. I had the pleasure of attending an event that featured kids ages 12-18 showcasing there artwork in a public forum. It was officially labeled the “10th Annual Teen Graffiti Art Contest”. This event took place at the Ann Arbor District Library in the heart of downtown Ann Arbor. What I thought was interesting was that they held this contest in the parking lot, maybe to seem as if it was a real setting because most graffiti art takes place outside. The contest started with a group of between 20-30 teenagers who were each given fifteen minutes to complete a design on a 4x4 canvas. None of the kids were allowed to bring supplies or anything else with them to the competition. All the art work that was created was off the top of these kid’s minds and they created whatever they were feeling at the time. That’s what I thought was most interesting was the pure spontaneity and creativity that was promoted at this event.

For something like this you would expect the crowd to be made up of one or two particular groups of people. But I was...