Graffiti

I recently had a major flashback to younger 15 year old self writing an article for the local town newspaper! I touched on the discussion of 'Art or Vandalism?' and it was an absolute dream of mine to be writing in a paper and the fact that I was going against the grain and able to discuss my personal opinion on the subject, I was buzzing off the experience. It actually came about when I was invited to a town council meeting, where I was surrounded by a majority of 50-70 year old men and women, all discussing how we need to clean up the streets and walls from graffiti. I proudly stood up and argued the point of graffiti not only being vandalism but also being a form of art and that if it were allowed, then people would be more artistic with it. With a nod of the head, the Mayor actually agreed with me.

10 Years later I have decided to delve back into the subject. After some travels, I have seen some of the most magnificent graffiti, all be it, mostly in cities, but I always wondered why can't this energy and art be translated into the towns and suburbs? I don't in any way condone illegal activity, and I understand that graffitiing is illegal, however after looking into it, I actually discovered that there is a subway in my town which has a legal graffiti wall. I took a little trip down there to see if I could capture some art, and I wasn't disappointed! It put a smile on my face to see that people are still making an effort to make our town look pretty. I believe that if it there wasn't such a negative attitude towards it, or if people realised that graffiti is more than just tagging, that others would feel more confident to really create beautiful pieces of art on the streets.

What are people opinions on this? Do you think graffitiing could have a positive impact?