Graffiti Research

How has graffiti affected a younger generation?

Young people (ages 16-25) grew up in a generation fully submerged in a digital culture. They account for the highest percentage of text message users in the United States. On average they read up to 100 text messages a day. They grew up around computers, video games, using the web, downloading digital photos and writing on their cell phones.

This is precisely how anyone can see and experience Graffiti tags without physically being there. Graffiti artists now take pictures on their cell phones and send them to friends. Text culture and the accessibility of phones changed the way Graffiti is now accessed, documented and read. Graffiti that was done on walls and the streets was never documented in this way before. The way most Graffiti artists documented it was through cameras that used film and then they developed the images for documentation. They often had to develop several shots and form a series of collages to get a full view of a piece they did on a long wall. Often, Graff artists compiled photo albums of their pieces and carried it with them to show others their work, a sort of artistic portfolio.

http://www.journalofaestheticsandprotest.org/6/another/diaz.html

Why Graffiti is aimed at this target audience?

This website has been carefully analyzed and this is what they have found during their research

www.crimereduction.homeoffice.gov.uk/antisocialbehaviour

Where are the most targeted places?

This website gives prime examples of where graffiti is being targeted

www.press.homeoffice.gov.uk/press-releases/Government

Who is responsible for graffiti?

This website tells us details of who is mainly responsible and what object this jeopardizes

www.dft.gov.uk/pgr/crime/youngpeopleandcrime

What can be done about graffiti?

Agencies, working together to tackle graffiti can prove the most effective. For example, in Surrey the police are working with the local authority, county council, British Transport Police, schools and local youth groups. The project has been running for three years and focuses on cleaning up graffiti, prevention by connecting with young people through the district youth council. Youth diversionary activities are important and the CDRP has funded these through youth clubs and a recently opened youth cafe. Young people are often not aware that damaging property by graffiti is a criminal offence and education is a crucial element of the project. Specialist youth affairs police officers and PCSO's spread this message through schools and also point out the consequences of being caught damaging property.

www.crimereduction.homeoffice.gov.uk/criminaldamage/cdfaqs002.htm

When does graffiti change from vandalism to art?

This website gives statistics on what you think graffiti is

About Poll
Is Graffiti Art or Vandalism?
It's definitely art and should be celebrated (2442)	57%
It's definitely vandalism and offenders should be punished (641)	15%
It's art but there ought be specific places to create it (568)	13%
It's art but I don't want it on my wall thank you (100)	2%
If it's art, why not do it on a canvas and frame it? (138)	3%
Some of it's art, but most is rubbish (312)	7%
Something else (35)	3%
Total Votes: 4236

painting.about.com/b/2006/05/01/is-graffiti-art-or-vandalism

Graffiti done with permission is art is in the eye of the beholder. My office has even funded many beautiful graffiti-like murals.

However, it becomes a crime when you put that "art" on someone else's property. I have a message for the graffiti vandals out there - your freedom of expression ends where my property begins!

If illegal graffiti were truly an art form, these thugs would have their tags all over their own homes and vehicles, which is not the case.

As City Public Safety Chair and a former prosecutor, I can tell you that, "Art is not what motivates the vast majority of taggers. At its best graffiti is just a way for immature vandals to seek notoriety and at its worst it is messages between rival gangs and drug dealers.
Graffiti is a gateway crime that both leads children and adolescents astray and sends a message that a graffiti-covered neighbourhood is ripe for criminal activity."

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/4946378.stm

Art

Vandalism

How I can use this research in my documentary

This idea will reflect how much graffiti is a really big issue in the UK and other places around the world. This would definately be a great topic to do as I can interview some people that I know that do graffiti, but in terms of shooting this topic for my documentary I do not think that this idea will be very viable as I havent got enough research to prove my point. The topic aimed to reach my target audience, but I did not get a solid enough answer to where and how graffiti started. This has brought my view on how viable this documentary is to film to a halt as I honestly think that I my documentary will fail to answer the question properly and that it will not produce the results I hoped to answer accurately.