Graffiti: Misrepresented In Modern Culture

What makes something art? The actual definition of art is “the expression or application of human creative skill and imagination” (Ross), so by the definition of art we can categorize graffiti as an art form. By viewing the history of graffiti, the way it is represented in modern culture, the effect it has on society we can make a strong argument to group graffiti as an art form and why it should notshouldn’t be illegal. Graffiti is a form of art that is misrepresented in modern society and shouldn’t be considered illegal. In order to determine if graffiti is art we have to look at itsit’s history., Today, graffiti today has a bad rap due to its usage in “tagging” (Ross) locations by gangs. Graffiti dates back to around the Seventh century, it was first sighted in a port-town in England known as “Cley-Next-the-Sea” (Ravilious), it was an extremely popular town with a devout religious community. There is a church in the town that they are now famous for, the

Many people view it as an act of deviance because it is vandalism of property. However, in modern culture graffiti is used in movies “as a backdrop to tell a story” (Ross), this is typically more street art but that is a form of graffiti. There is of course other view points to this, movies also use graffiti to “portray criminals and criminal activities” (Ross) which is completely misrepresenting the art form. Now, there’s no denying the fact that graffiti is used to portray deviant messages and groups, this form of graffiti is obviously vandalism and is unwanted, the major type of graffiti that is good is mainly known as street art. Can you imagine a city that isthat’s completely graffiti free? That sounds quite boring, graffiti is what gives a city its character and feel, it usually gets a bad wrap because of it’s use in movies being portrayed as a gang related activity, although it is more than