A long history
Painting and writing on walls is nothing new. In prehistoric times, people in
Africa and Europe painted pictures of animals and people in caves. Graffiti
has been found at ancient sites in Greece, Italy, Syria and Iraq. In the Roman
town of Pompeii in Italy, archaeologists found a lot of graffiti written in Latin,
including political and romantic messages, and even some magic spells!
Modern times
In the 1970s, young people in New York used pens to write their names, or
'tags', on walls around the city. One of the first 'taggers' was Demetrius, a
teenager from a Greek family. Demetrius's tag was TAKI 183. TAKI was his
nickname and 183 was the number of the street where he lived – 183rd
Street. At first, he wrote his tag on walls in his neighbourhood. Then he
started writing it in subway stations on the way to school. When the subway
train stopped at a station, he jumped off, wrote his 'tag' on the wall and then
jumped back on the train before the doors closed. Other teenagers saw
Demetrius's tag and started writing their own tags on walls, buses and subway
trains all over New York: Barbara 62, Joe 182 ...
Then, some teenagers stopped using pens and started using aerosol paints.
Their tags were bigger and more colourful. Aerosol paint graffiti became very
popular in the 1970s and 1980s and appeared on trains, buses and walls
around the world. In the 1990s and 2000s, a lot of graffiti artists started to
make pictures too. Some artists were interested in politics and tried to make
people think about social problems and discrimination with their pictures.
Other artists wanted to make cities more beautiful. In South America, street
artists started painting in poor areas. They brought colour and beauty to grey,
city walls.
Art or vandalism?
Is graffiti art or vandalism? In many countries, it is a crime to paint on walls
and street artists can have problems with the police. In other countries, street
art is permitted in certain places. For example, in Taiwan, there are 'graffiti
zones' where artists are free to paint and write on walls. In São Paulo in
Brazil, the city council allows some graffiti artists to paint on the city's subway
trains.
Nowadays, street art is more popular with the public. In some cities, there are
street art festivals. In Bristol in the UK, there is a street art festival in August
every year. Artists paint all the buildings in a street. Lots of people come to
watch the artists and take photos. Street art can be seen in galleries too.
There have been exhibitions of street art in galleries in Paris, London and Los
Angeles.
Who are the artists?
Some street artists have become famous. Here are three stars of the street art
world:
Os Gêmeos are identical twin brothers from São Paulo. They paint
huge, colourful pictures of people on buildings. In 2007, they painted a
castle in Scotland.
Blek le Rat is from France. He started off painting rats on the walls of
Paris. Nowadays, he paints pictures of homeless people in big cities. He
wants city residents to look at his pictures and think about the
homeless.
Faith47 is from Cape Town in South Africa. She paints big, colourful
pictures of people and animals. She likes painting in different locations
and you can find her pictures on pavements, postboxes, buses, cars
and, of course, on walls!
Street art and the global village
Most street artists are young people who paint in their home city or
neighbourhood. Many of them use the internet to communicate and share
photos of their pictures with other street artists around the world. Some street
artists have become famous and their pictures can be seen in galleries or on
city walls around the world. Although we don’t know what will happen to street
art in the future, we can be sure that it is here to stay!
Robin Newton
