Graffiti Magazine

Magazine

Historic forms of graffiti have helped gain understanding into the lifestyles
and languages of past cultures.

1By Raihan Rafiqi Bin Ramlan

what is G
Graffiti (plural; singular graffiti or graffito, the latter rarely used except in
archeology)

Graffiti
disambiguation

Graffiti ranges from simple written words to elaborate wall paint-
ings, and has existed since ancient times, with examples dating
back to ancient Egypt, ancient Greece, and the Roman Empire.
Graffiti is a controversial subject. In most countries, marking or
painting property without permission is considered by property
ownersandcivicauthoritiesasdefacementandvandalism,which
is a punishable crime, citing the use of graffiti by street gangs to
markterritoryortoserveasanindicatorofgang-relatedactivities.
Graffiti has become visualized as a growing urban “problem”
for many cities in industrialized nations, spreading from the
New York City subway system and Philadelphia in the early
1970s to the rest of the United States and Europe and other
world regions.

2

Graffiti?
graffiti, form of visual commu-
nication, usually illegal, involv- History of Graffiti
ing the unauthorized marking in the first order.
of public space by an individual
or group. Although the com- The term graffiti originally referred to the
mon image of graffiti is a stylistic inscriptions, figure drawings, and such, found on
symbol or phrase spray-paint- the walls of ancient sepulchres or ruins, as in the
ed on a wall by a member of a Catacombs of Rome or at Pompeii. Use of the word
street gang, some graffiti is not has evolved to include any graphics applied to
gang-related. Graffiti can be un- surfaces in a manner that constitutes vandalism.
derstood as antisocial behaviour. The only known source of the Safaitic language, an
ancient form of Arabic, is from graffiti: inscriptions
scratched on to the surface of rocks and boulders
in the predominantly basalt desert of southern
Syria, eastern Jordan and northern Saudi Arabia.
The first drawings on walls appeared in caves
thousands of years ago. Later the Ancient Romans
and Greeks wrote their names and protest poems
on buildings. Modern graffiti seems to have
appeared in Philadelphia in the early 1960s,
and by the late sixties it had reached New York.

3

The first known example of “modern style”[clarifi- MODERN STYLE GRAFFITI
cation needed] graffiti survives in the ancient Greek
city of Ephesus (in modern-day Turkey).

Located near a mosaic and stone walkway, the
graffiti shows a handprint that vaguely resembles
a heart, along with a footprint, a number, and a
carved image of a woman’s head.
The ancient Romans carved graffiti on walls and
monuments, examples of which also survive in
Egypt. Graffiti in the classical world had different
connotations than they carry in today’s society
concerning content. Ancient graffiti displayed
phrases of love declarations, political rhetoric, and
simple words of thought, compared to today’s pop-

4 ular messages of social and political ideals.

Level of literacy often
evident in graffiti

Historic forms of graffiti have helped gain
understanding into the lifestyles and languages of past
cultures. Errors in spelling and grammar in these graffiti
offer insight into the degree of literacy in Roman times
and provide
clues on the pronunciation of spoken Latin. Examples
are CIL IV, 7838: Vettium Firmum / aed[ilem]

Advent of
aerosol paint

Rock and roll graffiti is a significant subgenre. A famous
graffito of the twentieth century was the inscription in
the London tube reading “Clapton is God” in a link to
the guitarist Eric Clapton.
The phrase was spray-painted by an admirer on a wall in
an Islington station on the Underground in the autumn
of 1967. The graffito was captured in a photograph, in
which a dog is urinating on the wall.

Disappointed love
also found its way
onto walls in antiquity

Spread of hip

hop culture

Style Wars depicted not only famous graffitists such
as Skeme, Dondi, MinOne, and ZEPHYR, but also
reinforced graffiti’s role within New York’s emerging
hip-hop culture by incorporating famous early break-
dancing groups such as Rock Steady Crew into the film
and featuring rap in the soundtrack.

Although many officers of the New York City Police
Department found this film to be controversial,

5

Contemporary graffiti

Contemporary graffiti style has been heavily influenced by hip Some graffiti have their own poignancy. In World War II, an
hop culture and the myriad international styles derived from inscription on a wall at the fortress of Verdun was seen as an
Philadelphia and New York City Subway graffiti, however, there illustration of the US response twice in a generation to the
are many other traditions of notable graffiti in the twentieth wrongs of the Old World
century. Graffiti have long appeared on building walls, in During World War II and for decades after, the phrase “Kilroy
latrines, railroad boxcars, subways, and bridges. was here” with an accompanying illustration was widespread
The oldest known example of modern graffiti are the throughout the world, due to its use by American troops and
“monikers” found on traincars created by hobos and ultimately filtering into American popular culture. Shortly after
railworkers since the late 1800s. The Bozo Texino monikers the death of Charlie Parker (nicknamed “Yardbird” or “Bird”),
graffiti began appearing around New York with the words “Bird
66 were documented by filmmaker Bill Daniel in his 2005 Who is Lives”.
Bozo Texino?

People say
graffiti is ugly,
irresponsible
and childish...
but that’s only
if it’s done
properly
Some of the earliest forms of rock art are cave paintings. The
first painted cave acknowledged as being Paleolithic that is,
from the Stone Age was Altamira in northern Spain.

Experts deemed that the work was done by modern humans
(Homo sapiens) in multiple stages between about 36,000 and
15,000 years ago. The art discovered there features paintings and
engravings, often in combination;

for example, the bison figures that predominate were first
engraved and then painted. These images were executed in
a vivid bichrome of red and black, and some also have violet
tones.

Other figures include horses, deer, anthropomorphic characters,
handprints, and hand stencils. In many cases, the creator of the
images exploited the natural contours of the rock surface to add
a three-dimensional quality to the work.

France also is home to some of the most famous examples of
cave art, including that in Lascaux cave, near Montignac. The
art there was done during various periods, as far back as 17,000
years ago. It consists of approximately 600 painted and drawn
animals and symbols and nearly 1,500 engravings.

7

8

UNCOVERING
THE ARTS

Graffiti is a form of visual Is Graffiti Art?
communication created in
public places. Graffiti is dif- Personal
ferentiated from street art or
graffiti art in that it is usu- expression
ally illegally produced and
often involves the unautho- Graffiti, while once considered vandalism, is
rized marking of public or becoming more widely recognized as a type of
private spaces by individuals artwork. However, it is still not always posi-
or groups. The term Graf- tively received or universally accepted as art by
fiti was originally a refer- the general public.
ence to ancient inscriptions. Graffiti Art takes the techniques and meth-
These could be words or figure odologies behind street Graffiti and applies
drawings found on the walls them to other mediums. At the same time, all
of ancient sepulchers, pub- Graffiti can be considered art. The distinction
lic buildings, or ruins. An- between Graffiti and Graffiti Art is usually
cient Graffiti can be observed used when Graffiti leaves city surfaces and
in the Catacombs of Rome moves to another more traditional art surface,
or at the ruins of Pompeii. such as a canvas. Graffiti Art takes Graffiti off
The use of the word “Graffiti” the streets and allows it to be sold, exhibited,
has evolved over the centuries and displayed in other environments.
to refer to text or graphics ap- Graffiti is still a predominantly public and ur-
plied to surfaces. For a long ban art form. However, recently, Graffiti artists
time, the term Graffiti was and street artists such as Banksy and the artist
synonymous with vandalism. Alec Monopoly, who is behind the infamous
Richie Rich artworks, – have exhibited their
graffiti-style paintings commercially in gallery
and museum spaces.
Forms of Graffiti can
be found throughout
history, dating back
to the cavemen. The
first drawings on
walls could be called
Graffiti; Lascaux cave
paintings in France
date back to thou-
sands of years ago. The Ancient Greeks and
Romans also graffitied their names and protest

9

American soldiers adopted a
form of Graffiti throughout
World War II by writing the

graphrase “Kilroy was here.”

10

This message was accompanied by a sim-
ple sketch of a man peeking over a ledge.

ffitti
Soldiers would draw on surfaces along their
route as a form of camaraderie with the soldiers
who would follow. British and Australian sol-
diers used similar practices. Unbeknownst to the
soldiers, this was a war error meme and a pre-
cursor to modern Graffiti and meme culture.
While Graffiti has existed in many forms through-
out history, it didn’t become a widely visible and
well-known phenomenon until the 1960s. The
modern and commonly recognized form of Graffiti
started in the mid-sixties. This contemporary form
of Graffiti is often referred to as hip-hop Graffiti.
This form of hip-hop Graffiti started in urban Amer-
ica in the mid 20th century and was centered in Phil-
adelphia and New York. The invention of aerosol
spray paint in 1949 made spray cans the affordable,
transportable medium of choice for modern Graffiti.

1111

The iPhone 13 and iPhone 13 Mini (stylized as The iPhone 13 features a 6.1-inch (15 cm) dis-
iPhone 13 mini) are smartphones designed, de- play with Super Retina XDR OLED technology at
veloped, marketed, and sold by Apple Inc. They a resolution of 2532×1170 pixels and a pixel den-
are the fifteenth generation of iPhones (succeeding the sity of about 460 PPI with a refresh rate of 60Hz.
iPhone 12 and iPhone 12 Mini). They were unveiled at an The iPhone 13 Mini features a 5.4-inch (14 cm)
display with the same technology at a resolution of
Apple Event in Apple Park in Cupertino, Califor- 2340×1080 pixels and a pixel density of about 476 PPI.
nia on September 14, 2021, alongside the high- The iPhone 13 and 13 Mini feature the same camera
er priced iPhone 13 Pro and iPhone 13 Pro Max system with three cameras: one front-facing camera
flagships. Pre-orders for the iPhone 13 and iP- (12MP f/2.2) and two back-facing cameras: a wide
hone 13 Mini began on September 17, 2021. They (12MP f/1.6) and ultra-wide (12MP f/2.4) camera.
were officially released on September 24, 2021. The back-facing cameras both contain larger sensors
The iPhone 13 has a flat chassis analogous to that of con- for more light-gathering with new sensor shift optical
temporaneous Apple products, some differences such image stabilization (OIS) on main camera. The camera
as the rear cameras being larger and arranged diagonal- moduleonthebackisarrangeddiagonallyinsteadofver-
ly. The Face ID True Depth sensor housing on the iP- tically to engineer the larger sensors.[citation needed]
hone is 20% smaller yet taller than its predecessors.[14]

The iPhone 13 and 13 Mini are avail- The cameras use Apple’s latest computational pho-
able in six colors: Midnight, Starlight, Prod- tography engine, called Smart HDR 4. Users can
uct Red, Blue, Pink, and Green.[15][16] also choose from a range of photographic styles
On March 8, 2022, at Apple’s Special Event “Peek during capture, including rich contrast, vibrant,
Performance”, Apple revealed a new Green col- warm, and cool. Apple clarifies this is different from
or option, which became available on March 18 a filter, because it works intelligently with the im-
The iPhone 13 and iPhone 13 Mini use an Ap- age processing algorithm during capture to ap-
ple-designed A15 Bionic system on a chip. The iP- ply local adjustments to an image and the effects
hone 13 and 13 Mini feature a 6-core CPU, 4-core will be baked into the photos unlike filters which
GPU and 16-core Neural Engine, while the iP- can be removed after applying.[citation needed]
hone 13 Pro and 13 Pro Max feature a 5 core GPU.

12

apple
iphone13

cameras

The iPhone 13 Pro features four cameras: The cameras use Apple’s latest computational pho-
one front-facing camera and three back-fac- tography engine, called Smart HDR 4. Smart HDR 4
ing cameras, including a telephoto, wide, and processes recognized faces in photos separately us-
ultra-wide camera. The back-facing cam- ing local adjustments. Users can also choose from a
eras all contain larger sensors than the iP- range of photographic styles during capture, includ-
hone 12 Pro, allowing for more light-gath- ing rich contrast, vibrant, warm, and cool. Apple
ering. The wide and ultra-wide also have clarifies this is different than a filter, because it works
intelligently with the image processing algorithm
larger apertures to capture more light and during capture to apply local adjustments to an image.
increase low-light performance. The ul- The camera app contains a new mode called Cinematic
tra-wide camera also has autofocus for the Mode, which allows users to rack focus between subjects
first time. The 77 mm telephoto has a small- and create shallow depth of field using software algo-
er aperture than the 12 Pro’s, but has the ad- rithms. It is supported on the wide, telephoto and front
vantage of being able to use Night Mode for
the first time. The larger telephoto also in- 13
creases the digital zoom capability to 15x.[15]

Famous graffiti artists

Banksy is an anonymous British artist who emerged ian word graffiato which means “scratched”. While
in Bristol in the early to mid 1990s. His stencilled the practice of creating graffiti has existed since an-
images fused pop-culture iconography with sub- cient times, it come to the forefront as a modern art
versive political ideas on walls and bridges around movement in the second half of the 20th century.w
Bristol and London. He’s since gone internation- Darryl McCray, known by his tagging name Corn-
al, and his work has sold for six-figure sums. bread, began the to write on the walls in Philadel-
Lady Pink is an original graffiti art- phia in the late 1960s. The movement spread to
ist from the 1970s and 1980s. She painted on New York City and blossomed into the modern
graffiti movement, which reached its peak in the
New York subway trains before exhibit- U.S. in the late 1970s and early 1980s, and then
ing her work in galleries around the world. spread to Europe. Cornbread is widely regard-
Her work maintains strong feminist themes. ed as the father of modern day graffiti. Today
Jean-Michel Basquiat worked as graffiti art is hugely popular and some of the
part of the duo SAMO in the 1970s. best known artists in the world are street artists.
Still graffiti is considered vandalism by authorities and
He began writing messages on walls in Lower Manhat- many graffiti artists choose anonymity as a way to pre-
tan, turning to studio painting at age 20. In 2017, one vent arrest. Here are the 10 most famous graffiti artists in
of his canvases sold posthumously for $110,487,500 the world along with pictures of their best known works.
- the highest fee ever for an American artist.

Graffiti are writing or drawings that have been scrib-
bled, scratched or painted illicitly on a wall or other
surface, often within public view. The word graffi-
ti, or its singular form “graffito”, come from the Ital-

14

long time curator of StreetArtNYC

15

paradise
for grafitti artist

The catastrophic camp fire in Butte San Francisco Chronicle: ‘When ‘Most of the homes around her
county last November was one of I hear a devastating story or learn home burnt down and are gone. I
America’s destructive wildfires, about something that’s been de- thought this was such a powerful
ripping through more than 18,000 stroyed, I see an image in my head image and their home is off the
buildings. and feel like I have to paint that. grid. Driving up to it is so powerfu

It took more than 17 days for fire- ‘As soon as I saw the chimney [of As part of his work, Gra mmer im-
fighters to contain the flames that a destroyed home in Paradise] on mortalised fire victim Helen Pace,
went on to engulf all that lay in Facebook, I had to go paint it. who died at the age of 84 in her
its path and left much of the town ‘Hopefully it’s going to bring inspi- mobile home on Skyway Road.
abandoned - a haunting shell of its ration to students — hopefully just Her daughter Suzanne Drews told
former-self. giving them hope that there is a fu- the Washington Post: ‘She lived
After hearing about the disaster, ture here, that there’s beauty in near me, but the morning of the
Grammer traveled to the wrecked In one particularly striking piece, fire, I could not get to her.
sites, where he created faces, often he painted a picture of his friend ‘We are honored that [Grammer]
showing women staring out at the Amber, who he grew up with in would paint this for us, to memo-
destruction. Chico, looking down on her for- rialize my mom. Shane portrayed
The eerie murals were spray-paint- mer home. He wrote on Instagram: her wonderment. It left me almost
ed onto building remains, singed ‘They didn’t have much left to paint speechless.’
walls, barely standing chimneys but I liked the burnt up and twisted
and other remnants of the homes shed. I thought it had some great t.
and business. Grammer told the

16

He praises his wife Missy for her of his pieces have a ‘beginning and make way for the land-hungry port
support and credits her with in- an end’, adding: ‘..but I am for ever of Antwerp. But members of the
spiring him to return. grateful that they have brought ever-dwindling local
Grammer said: ‘When I came hope and joy to so many people populace are fighting to keep their
back home from the first trip we throughout paradise and now the homes and the village alive. They
were both blown away by the im- world.’ say a second container dock isn’t
pact these murals made on people noon in a cafe in a small Belgian necessary since the previous one,
throughout paradise. town. People are eating sandwich- which opened in 2005,
‘She said, “Honey you have to go es, popping in for a chat or to read is being used to less than a fifth of
back.” She has held down the fort the paper. So far, so normal. But its capacity (the corporation dis-
at home taking care of our family the view from the window tells a putes this figure). What’s more,
and supporting me. I couldn’t do different story. The cafe overlooks they argue, the riverside village has
this without her love and support!’ a square full of boarded-up shops lush nature, culture and heritage in
Despite some admiring the un- and homes. Graffiti covers almost abundance – plus the first stone-
usual faces, others are less than every available surface, including a mill in Belgium and a listed early
impressed. One woman who lives forlorn children’s playground. 17th-century house that belonged
in Magalia, near to Paradise, felt it In the neighbouring streets, row to Peter Paul Rubens’s family.
was ‘very invasive’. upon row of vacant and abandoned From a population of around 1,300
She told the San Francisco Chron- houses are covered in eye-pop- in the early 70s, there are now only
icle: ‘While I understand it, and I pingly colourful doodles or large 25 inhabitants left. But they are a
murals by street artists. To add to brave and well-organised bunch. A
don’t want the dystopian feel of the place, ev- 52-year-old named Marina Apers
you to forget ery so often a large pile of rubble is their unlikely champion. She
about us, it shows the lives in a house emblazoned with
feels invasive.’ spot where a house once stood, banners announcing that she and
After the re- and the giant smoke-billowing her husband will “leave Doel over
moval of one cooling towers of Belgium’s first our dead bodies”.
of the mu- commercial nuclear-power station
rals, Gram- loom on one side. This is Doel, a 17
mer shared 400-year-old village north-west of
in a post on Antwerp that has been at the heart
April 13, that of a political battle for survival for
he knows all over two decades. A state-funded
corporation is seeking to raze it to

Apers moved here in 1991 after
being employed as a cleaner at the
nuclear power station. She and her
husband, Guido, were assured that
buying there was a safe bet, but af-
ter they renovated their home, ru-
mours started to surface that Doel
“was going to have to disappear”.
The decline hasn’t happened over-
night, though the majority of in-
habitants left just before 2000
when they were offered cash pre-
miums to sell up voluntarily. “They
threatened that if people didn’t do
that they would be expropriated,”
she says, “and if you are expropri-
ated, you get very little money.”

18 By 2007 there were 350 peo- Michelangelo Pistoletto took
ple left and squatters had start- part. Soon the village attracted
ed to move in, making some of street artists from across Belgium
the deserted houses habitable and abroad who left their mark.
again. That year, Apers helped “In the early days the murals re-
set up the campaigning group lated to the message the resi-
Doel 2020. One of the ways it dents had, which was ‘don’t take
planned to ensure the long- our village away’,” says the Brus-
term survival of Doel was to sels-based photojournalist Vir-
turn it into a haven for artists. ginia Mayo, who has been visit-
“In the beginning it was good. ing Doel since 1998. “But later,
The idea was that it would be- other artists came and just used
come an open-air museum,” all the buildings as wall canvases
she says. World-renowned art- for their work, probably because
ists such as Luc Tuymans and there was little police presence.”

Of all the street art adorning Doel’s aban-
doned walls, it is the internationally fa-
mous Belgian muralist ROA’s haunting over-
sized rat, crow, headless boar and upside-down
rabbit that have become the village’s most memorable.

But other well-known street artists from Belgium, rol stations and a now-silent town hall, and the
Holland and France have also left a trail of weird constant hum of high-voltage power lines in-
and wonderful cartoon-like figures – a moody
mural of Barack Obama as the Joker by Amster- 19tensifies the post-apocalyptic atmosphere.
dam’s Ives.One and some robot aliens by the Brus-
sels-based artist Resto are notable examples.
It’s a surreal place, strewn with hundreds of
abandoned buildings, including schools, pet-

This book is made by Raihan Rafiqi Bin
Ramlan.

Thankyou

this is for graffitti artist who made this
art is illegal in any situation.
to get more info www.raiganartbook.com
Dial-0173351202
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@illegalart

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