以象徵互動論看台灣塗鴉文化 - 政大學術集成

全文

(1)An Interactionist Study of Taiwanese Graffiti Culture. 以象徵互動論看台灣塗鴉文化. 立. 治政碩士論文大. Master’s Thesis. ‧ 國. 學 ‧. Student: Dylan Pendray. n. al. er. io. sit. y. Nat. Advisor: David Blundell. Ch. engchi. i n U. v. 國立政治大學社會科學學院亞太研究英語碩士學位學程 International Master’s Program in Asia Pacific Studies College of Social Sciences National Chengchi University 中華民國. 106 年. 1 月 January 2017.

(2) An Interactionist Study of Taiwanese Graffiti Culture. 以象徵互動論看台灣塗鴉文化. 研究生：Dylan Pendray, Student 指導教授：David 治Blundell, Advisor. 立. 政. 大. sit. y. ‧. ‧ 國. 學. Nat. A Thesis. er. io. Submitted to International Master’s Program in Asia Pacific Studies. al. n. v i n C h Chengchi University National engchi U 國立政治大學. 社會科學學院亞太研究英語碩士學位學程碩士論文. 中華民國. 106 年. January 2017. 1月.

(3) TABLE OF CONTENTS 1 Why Graffiti? ............................................................................................ 1.1 2 Research Methodology ............................................................................. 2.6 2.1 Constructivist Approach .................................................................... 2.6 2.2 Qualitative Approach ........................................................................ 2.9 2.3 Interviewees .................................................................................... 2.10 Jimmy Cheng ........................................................................................ 2.11 PW......................................................................................................... 2.12 UOOYO ................................................................................................ 2.12 . 治政 DEBE .................................................................................................... 2.13 大立 ITA ........................................................................................................ 2.13 ‧ 國. 學. CHAFF.................................................................................................. 2.14 MOUSE................................................................................................. 2.15 . ‧. ROACH................................................................................................. 2.16 . Nat. sit. y. MACK................................................................................................... 2.16 . n. al. er. io. KEVIN .................................................................................................. 2.17 . i n U. v. FACE .................................................................................................... 2.17 . Ch. engchi. 3 History and Graffiti ................................................................................ 3.19 4 Ideas and Practices of Graffiti ................................................................ 4.24 4.1 Tag ................................................................................................... 4.24 4.2 Getting Up ....................................................................................... 4.26 4.2.1 Tagging...................................................................................... 4.27 4.2.2 Stickers ...................................................................................... 4.29 4.2.3 Throw Ups ................................................................................. 4.30 4.2.4 Pieces ......................................................................................... 4.31 4.2.5 Stencils ...................................................................................... 4.34 4.3 Status ............................................................................................... 4.35 i.

(4) 4.4 Ethics ............................................................................................... 4.38 4.4.1 Location..................................................................................... 4.39 4.4.2 Covering .................................................................................... 4.42 4.4.3 Crossing out............................................................................... 4.43 4.5 Illegality .......................................................................................... 4.45 4.5.1 Only Illegal Graffiti is Real Graffiti .......................................... 4.46 4.6 A Few Final Thoughts ..................................................................... 4.51 5 The Problem of Culture .......................................................................... 5.52 5.1 Solving Problems Through Collective Action ................................ 5.53 . 政治大 Graffiti as a Process 立 in Cultural Sequence ...................................... 5.57 . 5.2 Process, Series, and Sequence ......................................................... 5.55 5.3 . ‧ 國. 學. 5.4 Taiwanese Graffiti in Sequence… or Series ................................... 5.64 6 Graffiti and Resistance ........................................................................... 6.66 . ‧. 6.1 What Resistance? ............................................................................ 6.76 . y. Nat. 7 Reconsidering Resistance ....................................................................... 7.78 . er. io. sit. 7.1 Resistance to Cultural Norms .......................................................... 7.78 7.2 Hegemony and Power ..................................................................... 7.79 . n. al. Ch. i n U. v. 7.3 Expressions of Resistance ............................................................... 7.82 . engchi. 7.4 Self-expression and Individuality.................................................... 7.85 7.5 Self-expression, Individuality, and Creativity................................. 7.86 7.6 A Drive for Creativity ..................................................................... 7.87 7.7 Creativity is Individuality................................................................ 7.88 7.8 Individualism Challenges Cultural Hegemony ............................... 7.90 7.9 Latent Culture and C/Overt resistance ............................................ 7.91 7.10 . Macro Culture Micro Resistance ................................................. 7.92 . 7.11 . Filial Piety and Resistance ........................................................... 7.93 . 7.12 . Power and Resistance .................................................................. 7.95 ii.

(5) 7.13 . Beliefs, Interests, and Ideas ......................................................... 7.96 . 7.14 . Curiosity ...................................................................................... 7.97 . 7.15 . Self-expression and Identity ...................................................... 7.100 . 7.16 . Identity and Rebellion ............................................................... 7.103 . 7.17 . Socialisation and Disobedience ................................................. 7.105 . 7.18 . A Graffiti Identity that Resists Filial Piety ................................ 7.108 . 8 Back to Sequence.................................................................................. 8.109 9 References ............................................................................................ 9.112 10 . Appendix A Interviews ................................................................... 10.120 . 政治大 DEBE .................................................................................................... 10.132 立 CHAFF.................................................................................................. 10.120 . ‧ 國. 學. ITA ........................................................................................................ 10.139 Jimmy Cheng ........................................................................................ 10.147 . ‧. FACE .................................................................................................... 10.149 . y. Nat. KEVIN .................................................................................................. 10.157 . er. io. sit. MACK................................................................................................... 10.163 MOUSE................................................................................................. 10.167 . n. al. Ch. i n U. v. ROACH................................................................................................. 10.176 . engchi. PW......................................................................................................... 10.180 UOOYO ................................................................................................ 10.190 . iii.

(6) Figure 1: ‘Kilroy was here’ tag appeared during World War 2, written by US soldiers. ................................................................................................................................... 4.25 Figure 2 Taki 183's tag from the 1971 edition of The New York Times which spawned a movement. .............................................................................................................. 4.26 Figure 3 tagging on the window of an abandoned building in Taipei. ..................... 4.27 Figure 6 ‘NOE 246’ stickers on stairs in Shibuya, Tokyo. 246 is the Japanese graffiti crew that NOE is part of. .......................................................................................... 4.29 Figure 5 iconic Shepherd Fairy 'OBEY' sticker. ....................................................... 4.29 Figure 8 EMS is another expat American graffiti writer living in Taiwan. .............. 4.30 Figure 7 Throw ups in Taipei by HOWA, DABS, and CURE. ................................ 4.30 Figure 10 traditional tag based pieces by SHUXER and UDON that were revealed when. 治政 they’re not much more complex than throw ups with 3D, 大 backgrounds and highlights 立 and as such show the way graffiti evolved from quite simple tagging to ever more. a building on Chengde Rd. was pulled down. These pieces are interesting because. ‧ 國. 學. intricate designs. ....................................................................................................... 4.31 Figure 9 this piece by PW illustrates the multiple dimensions to his personality that he. ‧. likes to express through graffiti. ............................................................................... 4.31 Figure 11 this piece was done by UOOYO & the DARK PARADE CREW in an. Nat. sit. y. abandoned car factory in New Taipei City. It could be classified as 'new school' graffiti. er. io. since it doesn't feature a tag as the central motif, but the writers who produced it would probably remind us to avoid using such labels. ........................................................ 4.32. n. al. Ch. i n U. v. Figure 13 a piece by DEBE in an abandoned building which I found online. No. engchi. indication of how old it is. ........................................................................................ 4.32 Figure 12 this highly recognisable building is at the corner of Xinyi and Anhe Rds in central Taipei city. The outside is covered with graffiti tagging, throw ups, and stickers indicating it’s been abandoned.................................................................................. 4.33 Figure 14 one of BANKSY's most iconic images featuring his signature brand of social commentary............................................................................................................... 4.34 Figure 15 Blek le Rat is a famous French stencil graffiti artist famous for his rat stencils and social commentary ............................................................................................. 4.34 Figure 16 a stencil by Taiwanese artist KEA featuring a satirical image of Chiang Kaishek. .......................................................................................................................... 4.35 Figure 17 a copy of the 1971 New York Times article that first brought Taki 183 to the attention of the masses. ............................................................................................. 4.36 iv.

(7) Figure 18 this is a collaborative piece by the foreign writer DABS and others in the abandoned car factory in New Taipei City. .............................................................. 4.37 Figure 19 this piece is by MR. OGAY, and typical of his style that usually includes similar variations of the same character.................................................................... 4.37 Figure 20 graffiti on the abandoned complex on Jianguo North road. If one were to walk the length of the building, they would find throw ups and tags by different writers on every boarded up window. ................................................................................... 4.39 Figure 21 this abandoned building is at the intersection of Xinyi and Anhe roads in Taipei. It's covered in graffiti, but there is none on the buildings to either side of it. ................................................................................................................................... 4.39 Figure 22 tagging on a green roadside transformer box in Datong District Taipei. . 4.39. 治政大 closely to the left side you can Figure 24 this evil clown piece is by PW. If you look 立 see that there is older graffiti covered by his piece. .................................................. 4.42 Figure 23 a throw up on a roller door in Datong District. ........................................ 4.41. ‧ 國. 學. Figure 25 a CHAFF tag that's been crossed out by RAMP. His tag is on the right side. To the left is also an OMB crew tag, which is FACE's crew. .................................. 4.44. ‧. n. er. io. sit. y. Nat. al. Ch. engchi. v. i n U. v.

(8) An Interactionist Study of Taiwanese Graffiti Culture. Abstract Graffiti has existed as long as writing, but towards the end of the 1960s a new phenomenon began gaining attention as urban youth competed to write their tags all over New York and as stylishly as possible. Soon other youth in American cities began. 政治大 others lambasted by the media and authorities as vandalism, for many young people 立. emulating them, and from there it went global. At times celebrated as urban art, and at around the world, graffiti has also been a path to fame and status, a means of self-. ‧ 國. 學. expression, a way to escape the pressures young people face, and a means of rebellion. Graffiti culture spread to Taiwan more than 20 years ago, and has similarly attracted. ‧. young people here who have their own reasons for writing, their own problems, and. y. Nat. things they want to express. While graffiti culture has been studied in many English. sit. speaking countries in great detail, in Taiwan we have the opportunity to explore it in a. al. er. io. significantly different society. How is graffiti writing in Taiwan connected to the. iv n Taiwanese U. n. international graffiti world? In what ways has Taiwan’s unique culture influenced the. Ch. development of graffiti culture here? And what do. engchi. youth gain from. participation in graffiti culture? This thesis is an attempt to address these questions and more through the perspective of symbolic interactionism.. vi.

(9) 以象徵互動論看台灣塗鴉文化. 摘要自有書寫以來就有了塗鴉的存在，但到了 20 世紀 60 年代末，因為城市青年競相以極盡時尚的方式在紐約各處留名，這種新的現象開始逐漸受到矚目。. 政治大. 美國其他城市的年輕人隨即展開效仿，自此，塗鴉開始正式走向全球。有時作. 立. 為城市藝術受到歌頌，有時作為破壞主義受到媒體和當局譴責。對於世界各地. ‧ 國. 學. 的許多年輕人而言，塗鴉也是收獲名望和地位的途徑、自我表達的管道、逃避. ‧. 眼前壓力的方式和一種反叛的手段。塗鴉文化在 20 多年前傳播到台灣，同樣吸. sit. y. Nat. 引了在地青年因自身的種種理由、難題與想傳遞的訊息而進行書寫。雖然在許. n. al. er. io. 多英語系國家中已詳細研究過塗鴉文化，但我們有機會在台灣這個截然不同的. i n U. v. 社會中進行深入探索。台灣的塗鴉寫作如何與國際塗鴉世界連結？台灣獨特的. Ch. engchi. 文化在哪些方面影響了塗鴉文化的發展？台灣青年從參與塗鴉文化中獲益多少？本論文試圖通過符號互動主義的角度來探討這些問題。. vii.

(10) 立. 政治大. ‧. ‧ 國. 學. n. er. io. sit. y. Nat. al. Ch. engchi. i n U. v.

(11) 1 WHY GRAFFITI? When I was a child, graffiti to me always meant the kind of scratchings and lewd writing you saw on school desks or in bathroom stalls. Once I was older, at high school, I remember some kids got into tagging, but it never really registered on my consciousness. However, my conception of what graffiti really comes from when the time I spent in Australia in my early 20s. I had been living in Melbourne, when I first came into contact with what I consider graffiti it in a serious way. Australia, and Melbourne in particular, are well known internationally for street art, especially stencil art, but it was tag based New York style graffiti that made the strongest impression on me. At the time, I had been living in an inner-city apartment with a couple of friends, one of whom was dating a graffiti writer, Neil. Prior to meeting him, I had seen this. 政治大. kind of graffiti around the city, and sometimes even wondered who had written it, but. 立. for the most part had just accepted it as a part of the visual background of the city.. ‧ 國. 學. However, through Neil I became aware of a whole larger world that thrived just out of sight; often in the very same locations through which I travelled by day. What I discovered was an underground scene of late night writing excursions, and temporary. ‧. gallery exhibitions in abandoned warehouses. In short, there was much more going on. sit. y. Nat. than perhaps most people realise.. er. io. After leaving Australia, I didn’t think about graffiti much for many years. While I lived in Japan, it only registered on my consciousness due to its absence. However,. n. al. Ch. i n U. v. about 6 years ago I moved to Taiwan. At first living in Taichung, but soon after moving. engchi. to Taipei, where I started to notice it again. Once you first notice graffiti in the city, you start seeing it everywhere. In some places, Da’an District (大安區) for example, there is little standing out in the open, but you may notice some peeking out of dark corners and crevices. In others, like Datong District (大同區), you may notice it in greater quantity (if not quality). Much of this graffiti is characterised by the ‘throw-up’1 a kind of quick style of graffiti that uses only 1 or 2 colours of spray paint; one for a solid fill and another for the outline. However, if you head into Ximending’s movie theatre district (西門町電影公園區), you will notice a vast amount of really high quality. 1. A ‘throw up’ is a type of quick graffiti usually consisting of 2 colours. A fill and an outline.. 1.1.

(12) graffiti. For the most part they’re all pieces2 – from the phrase piece of art – quite reminiscent of the iconic hip hop graffiti that came out of New York in the 1970s and 80s3. However, there is also a lot that would more accurately be called street art rather than graffiti as the writer’s tag isn’t emphasised4. Due to the concentration in Ximen, I started my research there by contacting local Ximending resident and Taiwanese graffiti pioneer, Jimmy Cheng (鄭子靖). Jimmy is an interesting character who was quite happy to meet, and more than willing to talk at length about graffiti in Taiwan. Jimmy, who is almost 40, has been writing graffiti for 20 years; almost since it first took off here during the early 1990s. When he was just 19, he followed his brother from Tainan to Taipei and quickly became. 治政 He became a break dancer, a DJ, ran with a gang, and then 大started writing graffiti. In 立 path into the scene by some standards (Macdonald, fact, he followed a very prototypical. involved in a number of scenes that were just starting to find fertile ground in Taiwan.. ‧ 國. 學. 2001). While Jimmy doesn’t write graffiti nowadays, he’s still very much involved in the Taiwanese graffiti scene through his crew CITYMARX, who manage the. ‧. Ximending legal graffiti zone, and through a number of youth associations he’s involved with that promote graffiti (and other youth arts such as DJing and. Nat. io. er. place within traditional Taiwanese society.. sit. y. breakdancing) as a way to engage with young people who may have not found their. al. v i n graffiti writers, both of whom wereCaware Jimmy andU CITYMARX, but were not h e ofn g i h c n. After speaking with Jimmy, I was also fortunate to meet with another couple of. affiliated with either. Both PW and Wenjia were younger, in their mid-20s, and. similarly to Jimmy, to greater or lesser degrees they had both started to move out of an active graffiti writing phase. In the case of PW, he was training to become a fireman, while Wenjia led a graffiti crew “EBC DARK PIRATES”, but was mostly involved with graffiti in an educational capacity; teaching his skills to others with an interest in graffiti. While Jimmy clearly saw graffiti as an art form, he came to it through participation in youth culture, hip hop, and from what might be called a classic ‘delinquent’ background. In contrast, both PW and Wenjia came to graffiti with a much. 2 A ‘piece’ comes from the word ‘masterpiece’ and refers to the highly colourful, stylised, mural style graffiti that can take a whole day or more to paint. 3 See: Castleman, C. (1982). Getting Up: Subway Graffitti in New York. Cambridge MA: MIT Press. 4 See chapter… for a brief description of the different types of graffiti. 1.2.

(13) more formal artistic education. PW, for example, had studied commercial design at university, and was first introduced to spray can techniques by a professor while at college. Similarly, Wenjia came from artistic background with two older sisters who had both studied fine arts at university, although he studied psychology himself. Wenjia, in particular, discussed graffiti with me from a much more academic understanding on the topic, and was very aware of its history, and, very interestingly, the changing interpretations of graffiti that occur through location and time. Through these initial interviews I started to realise that there was clearly a Taiwanese graffiti scene, and that perhaps it was different from those abroad. It seems appropriate at this point to delve into some of the research already done on the graffiti scene as it exists in Taiwan. Conveniently, there is a professor at National. 政治大 Street Graffiti Culture in Taiwan, not only explores the phenomenon of graffiti culture 立. Taiwan University who has studied it extensively. In particular, a recent work titled, in Taiwan, but contrasts it with the scenes as documented abroad (Bih, Kuo, & Hsia,. ‧ 國. 學. 2008). In this work, the authors see many similarities between graffiti culture abroad and in Taiwan. Without a doubt the most important similarity is the recognition that the. ‧. graffiti community here constitutes a subculture with significant emphasis on identity. y. Nat. construction through shared meanings embodied in style & behaviour, and that within. sit. this subculture there is an established social order based on reputation and respect (Bih,. er. io. Kuo, & Hsia, 2008, pp. 113-117). This is consistent with other works from abroad,. al. v i n C hYork (Macdonald, Identity in London and New e n g c h i U 2001). A work that the authors themselves refer to. However, they also identify a number of features, which they see n. especially Nancy McDonald’s The Graffiti Subculture: Youth, Masculinity, and. as setting Taiwanese graffiti apart from scenes abroad. First amongst these is behaviour related to the ‘ephemeralness’ of graffiti, which is painted outdoors, subject to the tarnishing effects of the elements, and removal by authorities or property owners (Bih, Kuo, & Hsia, 2008, pp. 113-117). This, they discover, is an inevitability that is accepted as a matter of course, but also a factor that drives production and competition due to the hierarchical and status driven nature of the subculture; as such, it feeds back into the core nature of the subculture. Perhaps a more unique feature of the graffiti scene here, however, is the fact that the majority of graffiti artists in Taiwan come from middle class backgrounds, have university educations, and pre-existing interests in the arts (Bih, Kuo, & Hsia, 2008, pp. 113-117). The authors’ contention, in identifying this 1.3.

(14) feature, is that it sets them aside from the graffiti artists who first established the scene in New York city during the emergence of graffiti during the 1970s and 80s because they tended to be minorities, from less advantaged socioeconomic backgrounds, and were using graffiti as an act of resistance against an uncaring city (Bih, Kuo, & Hsia, 2008) (Anderson, 2012). In this sense they point out that Taiwanese graffiti artists are not engaged in any form of ideological resistance against hegemony (Hebdige, 1979) or dealing with marginal social positions consistent with Strain Theory (Merton, 1957). However, one of their conclusions is that they are delinquent youth who enjoy crossing the line, showing of their skills, making adults angry, and who refuse to act in accordance with adult expectations; that they are youth who are dissatisfied with the urban landscape, as shaped by middle class values, expectations regarding conventional. 治政大 position with regard to This, to me, still suggests that they occupy an oppositional 立 mainstream society, even if not at perhaps in the modernist ‘oppressed youth’. behaviour, and maintenance of social order (Bih, Kuo, & Hsia, 2008, pp. 113-117).. ‧ 國. 學. conception. Actually, it reminds me a lot of graffiti writers I encountered while living in Australia. And more importantly, as we shall see, may in fact may represent a. ‧. different understanding of resistance (Williams, 2007). Next the authors talk about graffiti in relation to space, or more specifically, graffiti and the city (Bih, Kuo, & Hsia,. Nat. sit. y. 2008, pp. 113-117). There is competition between the authorities, the general public,. er. io. and graffiti artists over their differing views on aesthetics. Graffiti is viewed by the first two as a blight on the city, but by the latter as a solution to urban monotony. Certainly. n. al. Ch. i n U. v. there is an argument to be made that parts of Taipei are less than beautiful, and that in. engchi. some cases graffiti could improve upon it. Furthermore, and as mentioned, graffiti artists here avoid controversial locations or content, which is to say they paint on power transformer boxes, roller doors, and temporary construction fences, and tend towards painting cute images, both in an attempt to avoid serious police attention, and to win over the general public (Bih, Kuo, & Hsia, 2008, pp. 113-117). However, as the authors mention, while this is a justification, it’s also an empty one since the central role of the city is in providing a space to claim, and facilitate competition (ibid). Finally, another major difference they note between the scene that exists here, and those recorded abroad is the expectations graffiti artists here have regarding monetisation and commercialisation of graffiti. In scenes abroad, it's not uncommon for graffiti artists to become commercially successful, and legitimate artists, Banksy is of course the most famous, but there are others. However to do so courts criticism and ostracism from the 1.4.

(15) graffiti community in many cases based on accusations of 'selling out' (Brighenti, 2010, p. 321) (Rhan, 2002, p. 157) (Macdonald, 2001, p. 174). However, it's interesting that according to this research, there appears to be a somewhat different attitude here towards commercial success attained on the back of graffiti proficiency. Essentially this research finds significant acceptance and enthusiasm for the commercial application of graffiti in Taiwan. This is interesting because it is connected to a number of concepts. First, graffiti has obviously evolved a lot as time has passed, and it has spread both across the US and beyond. For one thing, graffiti has well and truly become a recognised aspect of youth culture, which may have implications on the expectations that young people have when getting into graffiti nowadays. Second, as an Anglo Saxon who has lived in various parts of East Asia, I am often aware of a difference in attitude. 治政大 too much money, and gaining with negative attitudes towards ‘selling-out’ – making 立 mainstream fame – within the subculture. Obviously this represents an ideal associated towards authenticity. As we’ve mentioned, graffiti culture has long been associated. ‧ 國. 學. with graffiti culture5, however, at least anecdotally, I’ve often encountered different attitudes towards commercialisation of artistic output while living in Asia. These. ‧. various aspects of Taiwanese graffiti culture that I’ve mentioned, represent a number of interesting jumping off points from which to add my own academic contribution to. Nat. sit. y. this discourse, and if time permitted I would love to explore all of them. However, we. er. io. all face constraints on our activity in everyday life, and with regard to this thesis, lack of time is the one I face most. So with this admission, I will limit my explorations to. n. al. Ch. i n U. v. two main areas. First, I propose to look at graffiti writing culture in Taiwan not in. engchi. isolation, but as an international phenomenon that can trace its history back to New York, and perhaps earlier. Second, I want to explore the concept of resistance more fully and explore why young Taiwanese, who are generally more inclined towards social conformity, would engage in behaviour that would be described as nonconformist in any society.. 5 For a discussion on authenticity in hip hop see: Chang, Juliana, Murray Forman, Mark Anthony Neal, Imani Perry, Eithne Quinn, and Jeff Chang. "Keeping It Real: Interpreting Hip-Hop." College English 68.5 (2006): 545-54. Web.. 1.5.

(16) 2 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY This thesis is firmly grounded in the symbolic interactionist (SI) sociological perspective as first outlined by George Herbert Mead, and later codified by his student Herbert Blumer (Blumer, 1969). It also relies heavily on the ideas of other notable scholars who have also contributed their own ideas to SI, such as Howard S. Becker, Anselm Strauss, George Kubler, John R. Hall, and also J. Patrick Williams. Therefore the fundamental understanding that underpins this entire work can be summed up in Blumer’s three premises: (1) Humans act toward things on the basis of the meanings that things have for them; (2) the meanings of things derive from social interaction; and (3) these meanings are dependent on, and modified by, an interpretive process of the people who interact with one another (Blumer, 1969). As such, this thesis is primarily. 政治大. an attempt to try and understand the process of meaning and action inherent in the social. 立. phenomenon of Taiwanese graffiti culture, and the way understanding shapes and is. ‧ 國. 學. shaped by interaction with it.. 2.1 CONSTRUCTIVIST APPROACH. ‧. From a methodological point of view, however, this perspective favours a. Nat. sit. y. particularly “naturalistic” kind of inquiry that emphasises a number of approaches. er. io. (Williams, 2008). SI fundamentally presumes a constructivist approach to sociological inquiry, and is much more comfortable with qualitative research methods.. n. al. Ch. i n U. v. Constructivism, as opposed to positivism, is an approach that sees human interaction. engchi. as creating social realities and thus predicated on the assumptions that all knowledge is: 1. subjective; 2. situationally and culturally variable; and 3. ideologically conscious (Marvasti, 2004). The idea of subjectivity recalls Blumer’s three premises above, and sees all human knowledge as being idiosyncratic and dependent on the understanding and interpretation of the individual. As Williams notes, objective reality may be “out there”, but humans perceive it through their own senses, and they are highly selective in what they choose to notice about the world (Williams, 2008). The implication of subjectivity is that the point of view of the researcher, his knowledge and way of interpreting it, is just as subjective as the individuals we claim to study. As such, “investigating this topic in a constructionist framework requires sensitivity to our own, as well the research participants’ subjective standpoints or perspectives” (Marvasti, 2004). With respect to this point, then, I should point out a few the understandings and 2.6.

(17) assumptions that I have brought to this research. First, having come into contact with graffiti culture while living in Melbourne, Australia, one of the things I noted of the culture there was the attitude that many angry, young men came to graffiti culture with. In Australia, there were a number of writers that I met who exhibited anti-establishment attitudes, and a flagrant disregard for other people’s property. As such, of particular interest to me in beginning this research was the way in which Taiwanese graffiti writers might also possess anti-social tendencies, and moreover informed my decision to include resistance as a research area within my work. This also relates to the second way in which my own subjectivity came into play; as I constructed Confucianism/collectivism as the mainstream cultural hegemony against which Taiwanese graffiti writers resisted, and a cultural problem they tried to resolve through. 治政大 society has been shaped by a I’m aware that the mainstream culture of Taiwanese 立 different ideological tradition than my own Western one. As such, Confucianism is graffiti. The reasons for this are twofold: 1) As an Anglo-Saxon from New Zealand,. ‧ 國. 學. often emphasised as defining social relations in East Asian societies, as opposed to our Christian/Enlightenment traditions. One of the ways this is most apparent is in the. ‧. collectivist/individualist orientations of our respective societies, and which leads to the second reason: 2) In the process of writing this thesis, I discovered a lot of research on. Nat. sit. y. collectivism and individualism, the way they were understood to function in Asian and. er. io. Western societies, and the fact that they were not fixed orientations, but changed over time. Hence resistance to cultural hegemony. Third, the fact that I have consistently. n. al. Ch. i n U. v. referred to the practitioners as ‘writers’ is also informed by this logic, since all except. engchi. for two interviews were conducted in Chinese, and those graffiti writers referred to themselves as tuyaren (塗鴉人) or tuyake (塗鴉客). Neither of these translates as ‘graffiti writer’, the closest would be graffiti-ist, or graffiti person. In this case, I chose to translate the above as ‘writer’ for a number of subjective reasons: 1) in most media and previous research on the topic ‘writer’ was the most common appellation. The logic being that this kind of graffiti is based on a tag or pseudonym which is written on walls in marker or spray paint as opposed to traditional art which is image based. 2) There were a couple of instances that Taiwanese graffiti writers did refer to themselves with the English word ‘writer’, such as used by CHAFF whose interview was conducted entirely in English, and MOUSE whose interview was in Chinese, but interspersed with English graffiti terminology. Finally, the way I limited myself to just illegal graffiti. 2.7.

(18) writers who worked in the medium of spray paint and markers was influenced by my interaction with the writers themselves. Graffiti culture is about 50 years old now, and has diversified into a number of related practices. In particular, there is a large overlap between graffiti and street art with the lines between them being especially subjective as academics, artists, and graffiti writers all negotiate that boundary. Another notable practice associated with graffiti culture is the use of pre-cut stencils which are then held against a wall and painted with either spray paint or brush. In the case of the former, the writers I spoke to here were very much of the opinion that only spray paint and markers, and illegal writing constituted graffiti culture, and thus I didn’t try to interview people like CANDY BIRD or MR. OGAY since they often painted their murals with brushes. With regard to the second, stencils, even though this form of graffiti was. 治政大of graffiti here, although because I simply didn’t meet anyone who practiced this form 立 I’m aware they exist. In any event, my interpretation of graffiti culture here in Taiwan hugely popular in Melbourne when I lived there, I didn’t include it in my research. ‧ 國. 學. is highly influenced by my previous contact with graffiti culture, cultural background, other research on the topic of subcultures and graffiti culture, and the members of the research.. ‧. Taiwanese graffiti community who I had the fortune to meet during the course of this. y. Nat. sit. Returning to constructivism then, the second assumption, that of situational and. er. io. cultural variability, means that as a researcher I should be more inclined to look at how. al. v i n one situation or from one culture to C another (Marvasti, 2004). This assumption leads to hen gchi U n. the meaning and practical consequences of interaction with graffiti culture varies from. the kind of research questions that we should be asking, such as does graffiti culture. have the same meaning in Taiwan and America? What cultural or social forces have facilitated these changes? How have they revealed themselves uniquely in the Taiwanese cultural context? These questions are at the heart of this research on Taiwanese graffiti culture as separated by time, space, and culture from that of its progenitor in 1960s New York. However, previous research in Taiwan has already done a lot to identify the practices and ideas that are both similar and different to graffiti culture in the US (Bih, Kuo, & Hsia, 2008), and yet owing to the subjectivity of my own background and research orientation, that doesn’t preclude me from exploring the subject myself, and perhaps contributing another understanding to that which already exists. 2.8.

(19) The third assumption, ideological consciousness, considers the existing knowledge about the subject and the way it conflicts or coincides with previous research and promotes one ideological position over another (Marvasti, 2004). The researcher’s political agenda or orientation become important as their work has the potential to influence the public perception of the topic and also government policy. In this respect, ideological consciousness isn’t especially relevant to this thesis since it has little potential to influence anyone, but suffice it to say, I have approached this topic in a similar manner to previous researchers on graffiti. Most notably, Janice Rahn (Rhan, 2002), Nancy McDonald (Macdonald, 2001), and Jeff Ferrell (Ferrell, 1993). In a similar fashion to Rahn, I have considered graffiti culture from the perspective of an intensely curious outsider who is often impressed with the creativity, and intelligence. 治政大 chapter of this work has also dealt with identity construction as a major theme. Like 立 Ferrell, I’ve also considered graffiti culture from the perspective of resistance, all be it demonstrated by the graffiti writers I’ve encountered. Similar to McDonald, the last. ‧ 國. 學. less in relation to criminal deviance, and more as an expression of individuality. Like all three, I’ve studied this topic through a sociological lens that seeks to understand. ‧. graffiti culture as human activity rather than find ways to combat it, or market graffiti products to its participants.. sit. y. Nat. er. io. 2.2 QUALITATIVE APPROACH. al. v i n CInhSI, this orientationUtraces its history to the earliest days approaches to data gathering. engchi of the Chicago school of sociology, and the founding members of this sociological n. The constructivist approach, and indeed SI in general both favour qualitative. perspective who espoused a research approach known as urban ethnography (Williams, 2011). This approach is intently focused on the culture and lived experiences of the people who are being studied, and as such encourages researchers to study “individuals and groups in naturally occurring settings rather than in laboratories or through attitude surveys” (ibid). As such, the data gathering methods most often employed are participation in the day to day activities of the subjects, interviews and participant observation (ibid). However, Marvasti warns us that ideological or philosophical commitment to either qualitative or quantitative approaches can blind a researcher to information that a more utilitarian approach might reveal (Marvasti, 2004). His argument is that one should choose the right tool for the job, and thus consider the topic 2.9.

(20) being studied, and the research orientation of the scholar before adhering too strictly to either qualitative or quantitative approaches. In this vein, I have chosen to employ a predominantly qualitative methods, not from ideological attachment to SI, but because the topic favours them. Primarily this is due to the nature of the topic this thesis covers, graffiti culture as and the meaning it has for those who interact with it, but also underscored by two practical considerations: 1) Taiwanese graffiti writers are very few in number. KEVIN, who owns a graffiti supply shop in Tainan, but does business online with customers all over Taiwan, for example, estimated that there were not more than 50 active graffiti writers in Taiwan. 2) At the beginning of this research I only knew that I wanted to study graffiti in Taiwan, but that other researchers had already done a thorough job revealing an ethnography of Taiwanese graffiti culture. Moreover, it was. 治政大 became the starting research. Thus finding graffiti writers and asking them questions 立 point for this thesis. This, in turn, led me to choose a semi-structured interview (semi recommended to me to simply go out and ask questions, and let the answers guide my. ‧ 國. 學. standardized interview) approach to data gathering (Berg, 2001). This approach allowed me to steer the interviews towards topics that I was interested it, namely. ‧. identity and resistance, but questions were also open ended enough that the interviewees could reveal their own personal interests, in this case the importance of self-expression. Nat. sit. y. to graffiti writers in Taiwan. However, in keeping with the utilitarian approach, after. er. io. the collection phase, the analysis phase also relied heavily on the findings of other research that was informed by quantitative methods of data collection. This was. n. al. Ch. i n U. v. especially the case with respect to the discussion of individualism/collectivism, and. engchi. creativity in chapter 6, and led me to consider graffiti culture as resisting Confucianism.. 2.3 INTERVIEWEES As mentioned above, graffiti writers are relatively few in number in Taiwan, and, previous research led me to expect them to be relatively hard to find due to the illegality of this practice. As such, the first person I found was Jimmy Cheng from CityMarx who was not involved in illegal graffiti anymore, and maintained a relatively high profile.. 2.10.

(21) JIMMY CHENG Jimmy is the oldest of the graffiti writers I interviewed at 39, and occupies something of an elder statesman position in the Taiwanese graffiti community. Jimmy came to my notice through an article he was quoted in written by the Associated Foreign Press (AFP, 2015). After seeing his name, I searched for him on Facebook and came across CityMarx’ website and a contact number for Jimmy. These days he no longer writes graffiti, but is involved in the promotion of legal graffiti culture through his company and an NGO that supports graffiti, breakdancing, DJing, and other youth culture. His company/crew, CityMarx, also manages the legal graffiti zone in Taipei’s Ximending (西門町), which was conferred on them by the Taipei city government after a protracted struggle over the artistic merits of graffiti. It was also in Ximending, at his. 政治大. graffiti shop there, where I interviewed Jimmy in person. The interview was conducted. 立. entirely in Chinese.. ‧ 國. 學. Jimmy came to graffiti culture much earlier through the classic route of delinquency. At 17 he moved to Taipei with his brother, discovered hip-hop,. ‧. breakdancing, and DJ culture. He became involved with a gang, with whom he used to steal paint and beer, then go writing. At some point, Jimmy came to the realisation that. Nat. sit. y. graffiti should be seen as a legitimate form of street art, and decided to promote it as. io. er. such. Since then he’s given up his illegal practices to focus on the task, but continues to occupy a ‘structural role’ within the graffiti community (Williams, 2011). As such. n. al. i n U. v. he knows and is known to all of the major Taiwanese graffiti writers, and many of the. Ch. engchi. younger ones. The police often turn to him as a godfather type figure to discourage younger graffiti writers whose illegal activity attracts their attention. Despite his role in the graffiti community, and his involvement with commercial graffiti, and legal graffiti promotion, Jimmy’s involvement with graffiti is done without his parents’ blessing. When I went to meet Jimmy, his shop was locked up, and he didn’t answer my phone calls, only calling me back about an hour after we’d arranged to meet. While I was waiting to speak to Jimmy, and in an act of frustration, I contacted a Taiwanese friend of mine who I considered well connected with local youth culture. She in turn suggested two other writers whom I interviewed next.. 2.11.

(22) PW PW was introduced to me by the friend mentioned above. At the time of the interview, he wasn’t actively writing because he was training to become a fireman. PW was a university graduate who had studied commercial design, and came to graffiti culture through his studies. He occasionally did legal graffiti work if it was offered, but considered only illegal work to be legitimate graffiti. In fact, due to this illegality, PW kept his involvement with graffiti a secret from his parents. I interviewed PW in Chinese over a few days online via Facebook, and thus never met him in person. I found PW to be an intelligent, and thoughtful individual whose interview came to be one of my key references. One of the main topics in this thesis, self-expression, was first raised by PW in response to a question from me about what the essence of graffiti was. PW. 政治大 through graffiti, and with a freedom he couldn’t find in other aspects of his life. 立. placed a lot of emphasis on his ability to express a particular part of his personality. ‧ 國. 學. UOOYO. UOOYO was introduced to me by the same friend who introduced PW.. ‧. However unlike PW, I interviewed UOOYO in person at an abandoned car factory in Xinzhuang District (新莊區), New Taipei City. The interview was also conducted in. y. Nat. sit. Chinese. Like PW, however, UOOYO was college educated, intelligent, and very. er. io. knowledgeable about the history of graffiti culture in Taiwan and abroad. He was also. al. v i n C hI interviewed. UOOYO role in the story of another writer whom e n g c h i U also came from an arts n. the leader of Taiwan’s biggest graffiti crew, Dark Parade Crew (DPC), which played a background with two older sisters who studied fine arts at university, although he studied psychology himself. His parents were aware of his involvement with graffiti, but did not approve of it. His mum apparently preferred to tell people that her son was a teacher for example. UOOYO gave me a lot of great ideas, and a much appreciated guided tour of the abandoned factory, which functioned as a kind of art museum for graffiti since every wall was occupied, and there were pieces there stretching back more than 20 years. The above three graffiti writers formed a kind of pilot group, and their answers informed the later focus of my study. While I could have easily acquired more contacts to interview through them, I took a different approach, and instead joined a Facebook graffiti forum. Through that I contacted a number of the moderators directly, and asked 2.12.

(23) them if they were willing to be interviewed or could put me in touch with people who were. I also asked them for permission to post directly on their forum a request for interviews. Through this method I got in contact with the remainder of the writers I interviewed except for the foreign writer, FACE.. DEBE One of the moderators of the forum I mentioned above gave me the contact details for a number of higher profile Taiwanese graffiti writers. As such, DEBE was one of the first to respond to my request for an interview. He has been writing for about 10 years, but has progressed into the legitimate art world, and claims to not write illegal graffiti any more. However, like PW, DEBE also considered only those who had. 政治大. participated in illegal graffiti to be able to legitimately call themselves graffiti writers. Also like PW, he mentioned his interest in graffiti in relation to self-expression options. 立. that he felt were limited in other aspects of his life. Unlike many of the writers, however,. ‧ 國. 學. DEBE didn’t write graffiti against the wishes of his parents, who sometimes worried about his ability to make a living financially, but otherwise supported his creative. ‧. production. I had heard from another writer that DEBE spoke English because he often went abroad to do pieces, but never the less, I conducted his interview in Chinese. This. sit. y. Nat. was for two reasons: the first because he was abroad or otherwise engaged in graffiti business during the period I was gathering data, and as such the interview was. io. n. al. er. conducted over several day online which gave me time to translate, and construct my. i n U. v. responses to his answers. The second, I had decided early on to try and complete as. Ch. engchi. many interviews as possible in Chinese since I considered writers would be able to express themselves more naturally in their native language. Despite conducting the interview through Facebook, I did meet DEBE briefly in person later at the Taipei session of the international graffiti event, POWWOW. Like most of the writers, DEBE was well educated, and insightful regarding his involvement with graffiti, and was able to clearly articulate his journey from illegal graffiti novice to legitimate street artist who worked in the medium of spray paint. As such, he also became one of my key interviewees, and his responses heavily influenced the direction my research took.. ITA One of the moderators on the Facebook group I mentioned above, also recommended ITA’s company, Backstreet Art (後街藝術) as a possible source of 2.13.

(24) information. As such, I only found out it was ITA who I would be interviewing after arriving at their shop near Nanshijiao station (南勢角捷運站) in New Taipei city. ITA was polite, softly spoken, conservatively dressed, and completely not what one expected from a graffiti writer. Like Jimmy, ITA mostly focused on commercial, graffiti style mural work, and legal graffiti promotion these days (although they differ in execution), but as with the others, he also started out with illegal graffiti. ITA came into contact with graffiti in 2007 while studying at university, and somewhat by accident since it was only after he first used spray paint to write on walls that a friend of his explained to him he was doing graffiti. While writing illegally, ITA had one of the more serious run-ins with the police amongst the writers I interviewed, and subsequently toned down his behaviour, and eventually shifted to legal work. As with. 政治大 in some ways the most rebellious of all the writers I interviewed. ITA came from a 立 wealthy family, and his parents expected him to follow his father into the family PW and DEBE, ITA had a big influence on the direction my research took since he was. ‧ 國. 學. construction business. ITA recognised that he could earn a lot more money if he did so, but chose to pursue his own business in the arts out of passion. As such, it was the. ‧. interview with ITA that really made me take notice of the fact that many graffiti writers openly defied their parents in pursuit of their interest in graffiti.. er. io. sit. y. Nat. CHAFF. Responding to my post soliciting interviews on Facebook, CHAFF first. n. al. i n U. v. contacted me online, and then we arranged to meet in person at a McDonald’s in near. Ch. engchi. Dingxi station (頂溪捷運站) in New Taipei City. CHAFF turned out to be a student in his last year of high school, and like ITA, not someone who you would have guessed was a graffiti writer to look at him. CHAFF had been writing graffiti for 3 years, and unlike the others above, focused mostly on TAGGING rather than mural work. This he attributed to being less creatively inclined than graffiti writers who came from art school as well as due to his relative lack of experience. CHAFF spent a year studying in the US when he was 13 years old, and spoke excellent English, although he claimed all his graffiti knowledge was learned online from YouTube and Instagram. Because of this, CHAFF’s interview was one of only two conducted in English, and the only Taiwanese graffiti writer not interviewed in Chinese. In fact, CHAFF’s use of English, and his knowledge of graffiti terminology were so comprehensive that if he hadn’t said he was Taiwanese I would have assumed he was born and raised in the US. This duality 2.14.

(25) was also evidenced in the transformation he made from a shy young man who first arrived for the interview into an animated and enthusiastic graffiti writer after it began. Like ITA, CHAFF’s interview heavily influenced the direction my thesis took with regard to resistance since he described a rather antagonistic relationship with his father, and continued to write graffiti against their wishes.. MOUSE In many ways, getting in contact with MOUSE was very a fortunate occurrence. A member of the graffiti forum in which I posted the interview request recommended that I contact him. And so I tracked down his profile and messaged him through Facebook messenger. Right from the start MOUSE was willing to talk about graffiti. 政治大. culture in Taiwan, and quickly invited me down to Tainan to meet with him at his friend’s graffiti shop, Spraycan Fine Arts (思勃銳肯美術社). This was especially. 立. fortunate since not only was MOUSE very helpful, and enthusiastic, but by meeting. ‧ 國. 學. him there, I also managed to interview the proprietor, KEVIN, and a number of other writers who hung out there. MOUSE was another of the more experienced writers I. ‧. interviewed, and had been writing for 9 years at the time of the interview. He wrote a number of styles, but was well known for his distinctive calligraffiti style6, which fused. Nat. sit. y. spray can techniques with calligraphy ones to produce a unique style of graffiti writing.. io. er. MOUSE started writing graffiti through an interest in photography. When out taking photos of graffiti one day, some writers he knew told him to pick up a can and write his. n. al. i n U. v. name, and he’s been doing so ever since. Like ITA, and DEBE, MOUSE has progressed. Ch. engchi. with graffiti to the point that he can earn a living from it, and similarly to them, expressed his desire to do so despite being able to make more money as a graphic designer. However unlike them, MOUSE was quite adamant that he still continued to write illegal graffiti. In fact, MOUSE assured me that many of the older graffiti writers who had moved over to legal work still wrote illegally on occasion, but kept it very low key. Like the others, MOUSE was well educated, and from a middle class family, however unlike many writers, his parents were aware of his illegal activities, and had come to accept and support his interest in graffiti.. 6. See http://www.calligraffitiambassadors.com/ for information about this unique style of graffiti. 2.15.

(26) ROACH I met ROACH in Tainan while interviewing MOUSE because he was hanging out at KEVIN’s shop. ROACH was young, still doing his military service, and had only been writing for a little over a year. Although his interest in graffiti started when he was very young, he came to be involved largely due to his friendship with another Tainan writer, MACK. I liked the logic of he revealed in the choice of his tag, which took his inspiration from MOUSE; they were both creatures that could be seen running around the city streets at night. Like many of the writers, ROACH came to graffiti with an existing interest in art, although he claimed he never had an interest in studying until he got involved with graffiti. ROACH primarily got up with tags and stickers, preferring a marker over a spray can, but he also aspired to piecing in the future. ROACH was. 政治大 means of spreading his beliefs. Very early on in the interview he declared, unprompted, 立. interesting because he was outspokenly Christian, and he considered graffiti a potential that he went out writing night or day, and wasn’t afraid of the police. This was a pattern. ‧ 國. 學. I noticed in the other younger writers, CHAFF and MACK, and it led me to consider the role of law enforcement and resistance in chapter 5.. ‧. MACK. y. Nat. sit. After ROACH left KEVIN’s shop, and when I was nearly finished interviewing. er. io. KEVIN, MACK turned up, and agreed to be interviewed, too. As mentioned above,. al. MACK and ROACH were friends, although I don’t think MACK knew that I’d just. n. v i n previously interviewed ROACH. As C ahyounger writer, heUwas only 19 at the time I i enthusiasm for illegal graffiti e n gtraits, c hand interviewed him, he expressed a lot of the same that CHAFF and ROACH did. He was also at a similar stage to them with regard to his preferred method of getting up, but claimed to have started doing pieces too. MACK was interesting because he really sought out graffiti culture rather than coming across it through his affiliation with other writers. As such he very deliberately searched out graffiti online, and eventually came across the DPC crew mentioned above. Like other writers, he did his graffiti against the wishes of his parents, who reminded him that this was the behaviour of bad little kids. Unlike many of the others, MACK became interested in art because of his interest in graffiti rather than the other way around.. 2.16.

(27) KEVIN KEVIN is the proprietor of Spraycan Fine Arts (思勃銳肯美術社) in Tainan, and a friend of MOUSE, MACK, and ROACH. Unlike the others, however, KEVIN didn’t introduce himself with his tag, which he preferred to not to share. In this sense, he kept his graffiti identity separate from his regular identity. He also kept it secret from his parents, and mused that they knew he sold graffiti equipment, but probably didn’t know that he did graffiti. In fact, he was quite certain that very few people knew his tag even if they knew he wrote graffiti. Like the other Tainan writers I spoke to, KEVIN mostly got up with tags, but unlike the others, he was quite reserved, and didn’t offer much in response to my questions. I put this down, mostly, to his secretive personality, and public face as a legitimate business owner. Despite that, he was friendly, intelligent,. 政治大. and insightful like the rest of the writers I met in Tainan.. 立. FACE. ‧ 國. 學. FACE was the only Western graffiti writer I interviewed for this thesis, and was introduced to me by a mutual friend. While this thesis intended to focus on Taiwanese. ‧. graffiti writers, and their own graffiti culture, I thought it would be interesting to get. y. Nat. another perspective on the scene here. In his speech, attitudes, and dress, FACE was. sit. the archetypical graffiti writer from my memory of living in Melbourne. In fact, some. er. io. of the responses he gave to my questions could have been lifted directly from Style. al. v i n C h inspired the research of a graffiti writer. This actually e n g c h i U angle I originally wanted to n. Wars, or Nancy McDonald’s work on London and New York they were so prototypical. pursue when I realised the similarity that CHAFF revealed in his behaviour, attitude, and speech. As such, It would have been interesting to use Williams’ communication interlocks (Williams, 2011), and other identity studies to look at how Taiwanese writers adopted and adapted this international graffiti persona, which is so easy to find on YouTube and in other media. With respect to identity studies too, FACE was interesting in that he also ran an art gallery with some friends here, and operated by day as a legitimate artist. In his interview he discussed how he liked to keep the two identities separate because they allowed him to express different things about his personality. In total I managed to interview 11 graffiti writers for this thesis, but perhaps 8 really formed the basis of this work. In general I found them all to be thoughtful, intelligent, and enthusiastic individuals. None of them, even Jimmy Cheng despite his 2.17.

(28) earlier experiences, came across anything like the delinquent or rebellious youth one might imagine graffiti writers to be. This might be a reflection of their predominantly educated, middle class backgrounds, or it might be because many of them were out of their teens, and had been writing for a number of years. In any event, it was an interesting, and though provoking process interviewing everyone and trying to make a thesis out of it. To see their entire interviews, please turn to the first appendix at the back of this thesis.. 立. 政治大. ‧. ‧ 國. 學. n. er. io. sit. y. Nat. al. Ch. engchi. 2.18. i n U. v.

(29) 3 HISTORY AND GRAFFITI For my generation, the word graffiti refers to a type of urban youth culture. For others it implies barely legible scrawling – acts of vandalism – written in spray paint or markers on private and public property. An understanding reflected in the Oxford English dictionary definition; drawings scratched, sprayed or scribbled illicitly in public spaces (Oxford Dictionaries, 2017). In this form, graffiti culture has been around for almost 50 years, starting in New York and then going global. However, this word, graffiti, is of Italian origin, the plural of the word graffito, meaning ‘a scribbling’, and was originally used to describe ancient wall inscriptions found around at ancient sites around the Mediterranean (Online Etymology Dictionary, n.d.). As such, this meaning of graffiti referred to “any idea displayed in informal contexts, written or drawn on. 政治大. static or portable surfaces by and for people living in urban and rural spaces of the. 立. ancient world” (Keegan, 2014, p. xii). While those inscriptions have remained, for. ‧ 國. 學. many the current meaning of graffiti obscures its history, and more importantly, a reason to study it.. ‧. As an informal form of written communication, graffiti has existed for as long as there has been writing, and nowhere is it more studied than in the Mediterranean. Nat. sit. y. cultures of the ancient world. As Jennifer Baird and Claire Taylor explain, there are a. er. io. number of reasons why graffiti of this period is of such interest to scholars: the huge number of well-preserved examples, the access it provides into the lives of ordinary. n. al. Ch. i n U. v. people due to relatively wide spread literacy, and an already extensive understanding. engchi. of the societies in which this graffiti was produced (Baird & Taylor, 2015). In Pompeii alone, there are almost 11,000 examples of ancient graffiti preserved by the eruption of Mount Vesuvius, but they can also found in Graeco-Roman Egypt, classical Athens, Roman Ephesus and late antique Aphrodisias, Seleucid, Parthian and Roman DuraEuropos (Keegan, 2014). This has allowed historians to study graffiti not just from different chronological, geographical and typological contexts, but to also compare their meaning, methods and materials (Baird & Taylor, 2015). Much of the reason graffiti exists in this great number is due to much more wide spread literacy than would be found in Europe a few centuries later. As Keegan explains, literacy in the ancient world may not conform to our modern definitions in that for many the ability to read and write may have only been limited to those words or marks that served a practical purpose to their trade or occupation (Keegan, 2014). However, literacy in the past, was 3.19.

(30) widespread enough that large numbers of ordinary people were able to convey their thoughts; from the banal to the humorous, serious political statements, and crude sexual imagery; thus ancient graffiti provides a window into a world that studies of classical literature alone do not (Baird & Taylor, 2015). Not only does this graffiti allow access to the people of the ancient world, but studying it is also conditional on an already extensive understanding of the ancient world. For example, Keegan details a conversation written in graffiti in Pompeii with one writer mourning the passing of a man named Chius, and the other gloating over it. (Keegan, 2014, p. 2). Textual analysis of the names indicates that it was written by Latin speaking Greeks with a reasonable level of education, but translation of that conversation is also dependent on knowledge of Roman society, and Latin to know whether ‘moleste fero’ should mean ‘it annoys. 治政大 them in the first place; from the discussion of ancient graffiti is the reason for studying 立 they provide scholars with important insights into the societies that produced them. For. me’ or ‘I lament’ (ibid). However, perhaps the most important thing we can take away. ‧ 國. 學. example, ancient graffiti carried with it none of the kind of transgressive illegality that modern urban graffiti does. Ancient graffiti was written in private homes, communal. ‧. baths, sacred religious sites, and brothels by high born nobles, and literate or semiliterate commoners alike often in dialogue with one another and the permission of the. Nat. sit. y. property owner (Baird & Taylor, 2015).. er. io. Thus we can move forward in history, and look at examples of graffiti in. al. v i n C hC. Rivera-CollazoUwho conducted a study of One such example comes from Isabel engchi graffiti written on the walls of the San Juan’s Spanish Defence System Puerto Rico n. different societies with an eye to understanding them through their informal scribblings.. (Rivera-Collazo, 2006). The graffiti in this study was mostly written by soldiers stationed there from the 17th to late 18th centuries, and consists of both linguistic and figurative graffiti scratched into the walls wherever soldiers spent long periods of relatively inactive time. Not only does it provide a rich historical record of the types of ships operating in that part of the world at that time, but it also provides insights into the mental states of the predominantly male, military community stationed there with little to keep them occupied. Similarly, a study of European graffiti written amongst Aboriginal rock drawings dating to 1905 in Queensland, Australia demonstrates a number of things about the relationship between the two societies, and within the European one (Winchester, Davidson, & O'brien, 1996). It shows, for example, the 3.20.

(31) dominance of the white settlers who physically and symbolically removed the Aborigines from the landscape as they took over their territory, and desecrated their rock drawings. It also shows the way white males subordinated women, despite their electoral emancipation, through the use of derogatory terms and vulgar imagery. Julie Peteet’s study of political graffiti written on the walls of the West Bank during the First intifada shows the way Palestinians resisted Israeli domination and control of information (Peteet, 1996). In this study, the resistance of the Palestinians was shown to be more than just symbolic due to the affirmative feelings, and empowerment they gained from both reading and producing this graffiti and in the process refused to normalise the relationship between themselves and their occupiers. However, it also provides us insight into the way power structures were maintained by the Israelis and. 治政 individuals who read and wrote the graffiti. In大 each of these studies, informal 立 scribblings on walls have served as a visible clues to a broader understanding of the. contested by the Palestinians, and thus reveals the agency of both groups and the. ‧ 國. 學. societies who produced them. If one were to look and merely see pictures of ships in a Spanish fort, vulgar statements about women and Aboriginals in a mining town in. ‧. Australia, or political slogans in a contested territory, it would be to miss what these scribblings can teach us about the broader social forces they represent. Similarly, it. Nat. sit. y. means that any study of modern graffiti needs to be approached with the same kind of. er. io. attitude in order to learn what is behind that practice and what it can tell us about the society in which it’s produced. Thus we turn to the kind of graffiti that this study aims. n. al. Ch. i n U. v. to understand; what has often been termed hip-hop graffiti due to its association with. engchi. another cultural phenomenon that came out of New York at the same time. Towards the end of the 1960s, people in New York began to notice tags like Taki 183 and Julio 204 written in marker across the city (Castleman, 1982). Taki 183 in particular, who is most often accredited with kicking off this phenomenon, was a Greek-American kid who lived on West 183rd Street in the late 1960s (Kennedy, 2011). For a few years at the end of the 1960s and beginning of the 1970s he left his tag all across New York while working as a foot messenger. However it was an article in The New York Times7 that turned him into a celebrity and inspired a movement (ibid). “As soon as everybody understood that it was a name, they realized that Taki was famous”. 7. 'Taki 183’ Spawns Pen Pals, The New York Times, Friday July 21 1971. 3.21.

(32) (Silver & Chalfant, 1983). Soon urban youth were writing their tags all over New York City in imitation of Taki 183, but the fame and status they were able to garner through this activity didn’t last long. It became more and more difficult to make a name for yourself8 as more kids started doing it. As such, a kind of graffiti arms race developed as young writers invented ever larger, and more stylish ways of writing their tags. Soon they began forming graffiti crews who tagged their own names and those of their crew as a means of spreading their names further than one individual could by themselves (Ferrell, 1993). Pretty soon this kind of graffiti began getting the attention of the authorities who determined it a blight on the city, and decided to wage war on those writing it (Castleman, 1982). This is especially well illustrated in the 1983 graffiti documentary, Style Wars, which follows a number of young graffiti writers as they. 治政大phenomenon, its media (Silver & Chalfant, 1983). The high profile nature of this 立 attention, and its role as one of the four elements of hip hop helped spread graffiti write their tags all over the New York Metro trains, and those tasked with preventing. ‧ 國. 學. culture across first the United States, and then abroad (Gray, n.d.).. Along with its spread around the world, there has been a lot of academic interest. ‧. into graffiti writing culture along the way. Craig Castleman made one of the earliest. y. Nat. contributions in Getting Up, Subway Graffiti in New York (Castleman, 1982). This. sit. work provides a detailed ethnography, and document of the behaviour and motivations. er. io. of the graffiti writers, and also details their battles with the authorities, but doesn’t. al. v i n authors have also contributed workC onhthe topic of graffiti e n g c h i Uculture, and also sought to n. attempt to analyse or understand the social significance of it. Since then numerous. understand the deeper meanings behind this phenomenon. Focusing on the Denver,. Colorado scene of the early 1990s, for example, Jeff Ferrell examines the way graffiti writers stylistically resist the hegemonic forces of mainstream culture, and the authority of state and commerce that alienates youth from the spaces they occupy (Ferrell, 1993). Another study of New York and London at the turn of the millennium by Nancy McDonald focuses on the way young men use graffiti to construct masculine identities as they make the transition from youth to adulthood (Macdonald, 2001). Other academics have contributed their own ideas and meanings to graffiti culture at different times, and different locations. For me, however, there are two important points to take. 8. Making a name is the term graffiti writers used to describe getting fame through tagging.. 3.22.