The Graffiti like An Art

The Graffiti like an Art

The Graffiti has stopped of being signatures by all the streets of the city, nowadays the Graffiti goes beyond of being a signature, the Graffiti has become an art. In this essay we are going to discuss about how the graffiti has become art, like the society how they have managed to learned, to accept and to understand what Graffiti really means, it has become a media to criticize the society, the culture, the war, the violence and all the problems that the society must face nowadays.

The word Graffiti comes from the Greek name graphing that means to write. The Graffiti begins in New York in the 60s this is born from the hip hop culture. The first graffiti’s began being with signatures, by the streets of New York. The beginning of the artists of graffiti’s; one of the first was TAKI 183 whose real name was Demetrius. This boy begins to write his name in all the streets of New York, which cause a significant impact of curiosity and controversy for the young people of that time, increasingly the different young people began also to write their different names by all the streets, most of these attracted by the culture of the Rap and the Hip Hop.

Hundreds of young people begin to write on all the city walls and the police require more than 300,000 dollars to clean the streets and the tube station. On the other hand, for the young artists begins a competition to see who have more signatures than the others and where specifically within the city, the one that signed in a dangerous site was going to be more recognized, and all this to be able to be and to be known in the world of the artists that made Graffiti’s. The Graffiti begins being illegal since the young people signed in walls where was not legal. Progressively the graffiti became famous and extended everywhere in the world not only in the States. The Graffiti through the time took a more important role they no longer just signed the walls, was advancing and through this they started to criticize the present problems of society.


As I mentioned before the Graffiti advanced its technique, it is difficult that the society understands an art that it’s illegal. Society must understand what the Graffiti meant and what the Graffiti wanted to demonstrate. With time people went accepting, thanks to the acceptance that has be taken by the Graffiti in the last years, the governments have assigned different walls so that the artist can write-draw his criticize and to show the advance that this art has had. It is possible to known Graffiti like an art, since the graffiti’s express their unconformity with the society. As we well know the art criticizes, it teaches and demonstrates what it is lived daily, is interesting the comparison of artists who by means of their paintings revolutionized and created a great controversy in century XVIII.


The Graffiti has demonstrated that it is not delinquency, vandalism, and that it’s only a signature. In the particular case of Colombia, the government has been a great support since several events have been organized in Bogotá, reuniting all the artist of the whole country. This demonstrates us that the society no longer takes the Graffiti like a vandalism act, if the government supports these events is because the society thinks that it goes more of being young delinquency. Unfortunately in Colombia the Graffiti has been distorted by groups of people who write in the walls, the name of different groups, gangs and so on. This could be considering like delinquency since it does not express anything.


In conclusion, through the time the Graffiti stop being writing in the wall, and became a way of expression, that many considered delinquency until they understood what the artist wants to express and demonstrate to the society. The Graffiti has been accepted, today in the government supports it and gives walls to the artist that they know clearly what they do it, and that has arguments to justify their street art. The Graffiti is legal as long as they have permission of the government, but always the signatures that are seen daily like I mentioned before, vandalism act.
By: JENNIFER SEGURA