EMSIKAR 5TH EDITION

GRAFFITTI
OR
LEGAL
v e y o u e v e r b e e n d r i v i n g a n d n o t i c e a
a
a i n t i n g o n t h e s i d e o f a b u i l d i n g ? Would
p
o u c o n s i d e r t h a t a r t o r v a n d a l i s m ?
y
r a f f i t i i s w r i t i n g o r d r a w i n g s o n a w a l l o r
G
t h e r s u r f a c e , u s u a l l y a s a f o r m o f a n
o
r t i s t i c e x p r e s s i o n , w i t h o u t p e r mission
a
n d w i t h i n p u b l i c v i e w . F u r t h e r more,
a
h e r e i s t h e l i n e b e t w e e n a r t a n d
w
a n d a l i s m ? I r o n i c a l l y , i f y o u l o o k u p
v
a n d a l i s m , t h e f i r s t p i c t u r e t o p o p u p i s a
v
people in our society see any form
When
f g r a f f i t i , t h e y s h u t i t d o w n . We have told
o
u r s e l v e s t h a t s p r a y p a i n t e d a r t i s
o
a n d a l i s m . I n r e a l i t y , a s p r a y p a i n t c a n i s
v
u s t a t o o l t h a t a r t i s t s u s e t o c r e a t e a n a r t
j
i e c e . L i k e p a i n t i n g t o o l s , g r a f f i t i i s a t o o l
p
o r t h e mass communications of the world.
f
t c a n g e t a p e r s o n ’ s o p i n i o n s a n d v o i c e s
I
e a r d i n a n a n o n y mous way, and get
h
e o p l e t a l k i n g .
p
w e l v e - y e a r c u s t o m p a i n t e r D i e g o G o n z a l e z w a s a s k e d b y a t e a c h e r t o p a i n t
T
o me murals in the schooling facility where she worked. He said yes and
s
o o k t h e w h o l e n i g h t c r e a t i n g t h i n g s t h a t t h e s t u d e n t s c o u l d c o n n e c t t o a n d
t
o u l d e n j o y s e e i n g d u r i n g t h e s c h o o l d a y . A s s o o n a s s t u d e n t s w a l k e d i n t h e
w
e x t d a y , t h e a t mosphere changed. The hallways they took to get to class
n
a s n ’ t a s b o r i n g a s b e f o r e , n o w i t h a d s o much color. The students also
w
t a r t e d t a k i n g d i f f e r e n t h a l l w a y s t o c l a s s s o t h e y c o u l d s e e h i s murals every
s
a y b e c a u s e i t h a d s u c h a n i mpact on them. The students then started to
d
o me up with their own creative ideas and started painting murals within
c
h e s c h o o l . P e o p l e w h o a r e n ’ t e v e n a r t i s t s w e r e i n f l u e n c e d g r e a t l y a n d
t
EMSIKAR MAGAZINE 5TH ISSUE
COVER STORY
?
ILLEGAL
Makayla Braaten
By
g r a f f i t i p a i n t i n g .
Diego Gonzalez mentions in his Ted Talk
a study done by two researchers on how
people would react to an abandoned car
in the middle of a city. The researchers
left a car with nothing wrong with it on
the side of the road, and a few weeks
later they came back to see if anything
was messed with, but nothing was wrong
with it. They then broke a window and
left some scratches to see if people
would react to the abandoned car. A few
weeks later the researchers came back
and noticed that the car had more
scratches, broken windows and a couple
of paintings on it. When the car was
sitting there abandoned, but not broken
into, people weren’t phased by it. But,
when something happened to it, people
began to follow along by also breaking
windows or scratching it up. Graffiti can
have a positive affect on people, but it
can also have negative effects.
c r e a t e d t h i n g s t h a t h a v e a v e r y p o s i t i v e i mpact on their community.