Life In Graffiti

Graffiti, considered one of the five elements of Hip Hop [1.turntabling (deejaying), 2.MCing (rhyming) 3.graffiti painting, also known as graf (writing), 4.beat boxing and 5.B-boying (dance, style, and attitude] has had a profound influence on art and music throughout the centuries. 

The word graffiti comes from an Italian word graffiato which means scratched, and as an art form, dates back to the first century AD. As time passed, graffiti soon burst back into life in the late 1970’s through the Hip Hop culture which embraced it fully as a form of expression.

The goodness of graffiti is that it adds visual spice to what would normally be a mundane structure or piece of clothing. Moreover, within graffiti you can see life itself expressed through different voices, languages and styles. From the strictness of form to the fluidity of motion, one can see life captured in-between the intricate strokes and alternating color schemes.

Sometimes a tag could be a symbol to let others know about an acquired territory or it could simply be a beautiful piece that’s to be enjoyed as is, or it can have a political and social message for the public to digest.

You may ask yourself then, why do I love graffiti so much? Well simply because its meant to be shared primarily with the world, and two; it rarely follows any rules and like the free flowing hand of the artist, it asks you to express yourself without bounds. I guess that’s why I like Hip Hop a lot as a culture, because of its boundlessness and free spirited nature. 

There are not a lot of artists (none that I’ve heard of) who are particularly masters of all the five elements. Usually though, if you find yourself immersed in one, it’s only a matter of time before you’re exposed to the others.

Lastly, by means of technological, it’s now possible to even turn a simple picture into a beautiful work of graffiti, all with a touch of a button.