KEY WORDS:

Tagging = The act of creating a signature or symbol that uses the artists name or pseudonym.

CREW: A crew, krew, or cru is a group of associated graffitists that often work together.

On a sunny morning I met a person who is a prolific Plymouth graffiti tagger. We will call him X I wanted to understand the culture of graffiti tagging and why they do it.

He started spraying his outlines which was fascinating to watch the flow that went into his can control. I started asking him questions:

ANJA: “What does graffiti mean to you?”

X: “Not a great deal to be honest, it’s just something to do when you’re bored I suppose, If you think too much it just stops becoming fun. Do it, have a laugh that’s about it really.”

ANJA: “Did anything or anyone inspire you?”

X: “Yes actually. When I was younger I went to Manchester with my mum and we where on the trains, and going along the train lines and tracks seeing all the abandoned bits that where filled with graffiti. Saw a lot of colours there and for a little kid that was like, woahhh. I remember seeing a Super Mario mushroom. Yeah that stuck in my mind.”

ANJA: “I know you showed me some videos you watch of crews spraying in big cities too.”

X: “It’s good to immerse yourself in the culture for sure, watch documentaries. Videos of groups in YouTube ect.”

ANJA: “Why do you think graffiti is hated by a lot of people, and what’s the misconceptions?”

X: “I don’t know. They probably got reason to be honest. If someone tagged your house or your car up yeah i’d be pretty p*ssed off aswell. But it’s not about what other people think it’s about what you think.”

ANJA: “But why do you think people do it?”

X: “As I said before, you’re sat inside bored out your mind, your choice is to smoke weed and be bored, or go out and graffiti bomb the streets. It’s a no brainer. You know what I mean, you can be sad, lonely, miserable, not have a grildfriend and be bad at graffiti, it’s one of the two you know”

ANJA: “Do you think it’s vandalism?”

X: “Yeah”

ANJA: “How do you justify it?”

X: “I don’t to be honest, if it p*sses you off that’s on you, just dont look at it I suppose”

ANJA: “Do you think the reactions from the police are an over reaction?”

X: “If you run fast enough you won’t have to find out! I do it for myself, I don’t care if no one likes it or not”

ANJA: Do you think graffiti is one of the only things that makes the city feel abit alive and artistic?”

X: “Yeah you’re right, it’s dull else. You can’t go wrong with abit of wildlife too, some trees on the go. You can waste your money wiping off some graffiti from a wall or you can use it on more practical thing’s that’s gonna help, like do you know how many bus stops there are without a bin? Do you know what I mean?”

ANJA: “Is there anything else you’d like to say? anything on your mind?”

X: “Hello mum!”

ANJA: “Any words of wisdom for people into graffiti?”

X: “Don’t do it! You’ll have no money, holes in your shoes, clothes covered in paint and your mum will wander where you’re going. You'll like it, actually just do it you gotta have a go don’t ya? I actually do have some advice, don’t stress so much if your stuff doesn’t come out so nice, because who really cares. Only people who are actually into graffiti will look at your work and see what colours you use and how crisp your lines are. Use what you get and just take a step back from it, when you’re proper close to your work doing it you’re just seeing everything wrong with it. But when you get your photo, you take it back there you know. Just make mistakes and there’s always ways to correct it. We’re in the internet age now there’s tutorials everywhere, all sorts. So use it.”

Conclusion:

This guy is a character for sure. And an absolute laugh. But it made me think when he was talking to me. I was sitting on the grass in a park on a sunny day. Hip Hop music playing out of a speaker. X spraying all over a wall. It was nice, it looked fun and it felt nice. In that moment it didn’t feel like anything he was doing was inherently wrong. I saw a guy who felt alive by painting some of his words on a wall with pretty colours. Is he the problem or is peoples perceptions of him the real problem? Graffiti is a whole community and culture. It attracts people who just want to get out the house and have fun and play a game with their tags. Of course it turns anti-social if stupid things like anti semetic symbols ect. But these taggers are not that. It is a vey unique art form and I think it deserves it’s respect in society and our culture as a whole. More spaces not just for murals but actual tags should be allowed and it should be accepted more and maybe there would be less tension with the police and people in the city. If there is a blank wall why is it a problem to have peoples tags on it? Keep in mind these tags are usually creative names the artists have made up to write in places. It helps the artists feel like they have a purpose and it helps them get out their house and encourages artistic expression. Maybe we just need to shift our perspective abit and open up our minds to this art.