January 27 - graffiti

I have always thought that graffiti is a modern thing, born out of frustration with society or political inaction, but not so. As many as 1500 wall scribblings were preserved under the ash in Pompeii and created 2000 years ago.

Answers.com gives these examples of translated graffiti -

Successus was here.
Gaius Julius Primigenius was here. Why are you late?
Lovers, like bees, lead a honey-sweet life.
I don't want to sell my husband.
Burglar, watch out!
Someone at whose table I do not dine, Lucius Istacidius, is a barbarian to me.
The fruit sellers ask you to elect Marcus Holconius Priscus as aedile.
I am amazed, o wall, that you have not collapsed and fallen, since you must bear the tedious stupidities of so many scrawlers.

I guess at that time they had nowhere else to express themselves, except on the walls of the town.

Some of today's graffiti artists, like Banksy, have built a successful reputation for themselves around the world and their work is highly prized, although there are those members of the establishment who feel that ALL graffiti is bad and should be wiped out, painted over or destroyed.

My view is that I've seen some extraordinary graffiti around the world and I admire the skill it takes to produce it. Graffiti artists tend to respect each others work and won't go over it unless they can do better. However, there is a new lifeform called the "Tagger" that has no respect for anyone (possibly including themselves) and I can only assume they have some totally foreign motivation for making their mark on public property all over the place.


I thought I'd enjoy doing this page but it turned out to be the most difficult one I've done. I think it must be that I don't have the mindset of a graffiti artist. In the end I had to take the book to a meeting of book artists and asked them to add some scribbles for me.