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The psychology behind graffiti involvement.
Abstract
A person's sense of belonging with society has been described as being a convergence of cognitions, behaviours, and emotional affect as well as an environmental experience (Pretty et al., 2003). Moreover, the desire for a sense of place belonging within society is not constricted by age, gender, ethnicity, or economic status. For as Antonsich (2010) points out, both society's 'insiders' and 'outsiders' have an inherent longing to claim bodily, temporal and/or ephemeral ownership of society. Once they have located this space, their sense of belonging is realised through their physical or cognitive occupation of that space... In doing so, they generate a within group sense of identity which further contributes to their sense of place (Taylor & Khan, 2014). This chapter examines the psychological motivations of graffiti writers for initially selecting a societal 'outsider' (but graffiti subculture 'insider') graffer social identity within the broader context of the psychological conceptualizations of people's sense of belonging, subcultural sense of place, sense of community and sense of connection. This chapter concludes by highlighting the motivations behind sanctioned graffiti artists drive for social inclusion (i.e., transitioning from a societal outsider to a societal insider).
... 19 Gusfield (1975), 23-52. 20 Macdonald (2018), 80; Myra, et al. (2016), 194. 21 Myra, at al. (2016. ...
This article analyses Cypriot graffiti in Egypt engraved by tourists and mercenaries in the Archaic and Classical periods (sixth through fourth centuries BC). These graffiti were inscribed on walls of majestic monuments, e.g., the pyramids in Giza and the temples of Karnak and Abydos. They were written in different languages and scripts all employed on the island, such as Cypriot-syllabic Greek, Eteocypriot – an indigenous language still undeciphered – alphabetic Greek and Phoenician, spread throughout the city-kingdoms into which Cyprus was subdivided. The examination is conducted through a socio-cognitive approach, moving beyond previous scholarship which exclusively focused on the graffiti’s concise texts – often limited to the names and provenance of the writers . By comparing Cypriot Egyptian graffiti with contemporary graffiti and twenty-first-century graffiti written in Cypriot-syllabic script, the analysis will shed light on the role of socio-political environment and landscapes in triggering individuals’ – in this case Cypriots’ – cognitive-behavioral responses which lead them to write these texts. This pioneering approach will allow a better understanding of the underlying reasons why these graffiti were engraved and in which locations. The investigation will provide a better knowledge of the origins of the Cypriot writers, level of literacy, and of their role in society (e.g., insiders vs. outsiders), shedding light on communities that would otherwise be unknown. Furthermore, this study lays the foundations for developing an innovative methodology applicable to epigraphic studies, based on integrating landscape interactions and visual impacts to more traditional examination strategies.
... In terms of the community perspective, scholars have asserted that graffiti and wall paintings are generally perceived by the insiders, both creators and members of their extended local group, as a declaration of belonging to a territorially rooted (sub-) culture, reinforcing the sense of community [27]. Aligning with broader research on heritages, street art has also been identified among the factors contributing to psychological wellbeing and restoration while walking in urban environments, as it can be strongly associated with the city identity, evoking feelings of civic pride [28]. ...
The Faro Convention emphasizes the link between cultural heritage and place-related identity, highlighting their role in fostering environmental and community belonging. Urban renewal projects centered around contemporary and street art have gained popularity worldwide but often exhibit unclear impacts on local populations. Few studies have explored this topic using a psychological and longitudinal approach. Addressing this research gap, our study analyzed changes in place attachment and neighborhood image five years after implementing a street-art-based renewal project in a Milan suburb. Moreover, the project’s impact on the neighborhood’s historical “personality” as perceived by residents and citizens (n = 296) was examined. A survey was designed and administered to compare trends in these variables between 2017 (project start) and 2022, applying content analysis and analysis of variance techniques. Results showed that street art inspired by local history and culture had a positive effect on residents’ place attachment and local image, without disrupting community traditions. However, no significant impacts were found among non-residents. These findings highlight the significance of urban renewal policies that prioritize a district’s social and cultural history. Such policies not only safeguard the citizens’ well-being and foster place attachment, but could also revitalize the local imagery, promoting innovation and creativity.
... They fit into Lennon's (2016) hobo graffiti of the subculture in USA and through their writings, they express their anger, grumblings and existential anguish and their disenfranchised states. Such art works as a means of protest and discontent corroborate the observation of Ross (2016) and Taylor et al. (2016) in the context of USA to voice protest against unemployment and to get social recognition from peers. ...
This study analyzed the content and language in graffiti prevailing in Chittagong. The aim of the research was to examine how and why graffitists utilized graffiti. The data were collected from various places of Chittagong. Two frameworks i.e., Fairclough’s critical discourse analysis and Brown and Clarke’s thematic content analysis, were used to analyze data and the research method used in this study was qualitative. The findings reveal that graffitists used this form of art for a variety of purposes (such as political ideologies, social concerns) and they used diverse codes to express their meanings.
... Graffiti and street art contain ephemeral messages encompassing both identity and territorial claims often found in many forms, including protest, irony, humor, subversion, commentary, critique, an intervention, an individual or collective manifesto or simply an assertion of existence (Irvine 2012, 3;Taylor, Pooley, and Carragher 2016). Sanctioning such artistic processes may appear to diminish acts of transgression (by artists themselves) and be regarded as an act of "selling out" by peers within a particular subculture (Schachter 2014;Gonçalves 2019;Milani 2022;Pennycook 2022, but see Dickens 2010 for a counterargument). ...
The last decades have seen the ideological transformations of graffiti and street art once constructed as criminal acts and associated with urban decay to being acceptable and profitable forms of commercial art. The spaces and places where these art forms are found have long transcended streets to art galleries and corporate advertising billboards and campaigns making them “the most visible forms of global urban culture and urban transgression” (Ferrell 2016, xxx; Bofkin 2014). This special issue on street art/art in the street explores street art's proliferation and complexity in different contexts as it relates to the political economy and neoliberal capitalism raising questions of social class, urban growth, cultural production, and consumerism. The themes investigated include notions of legality and illegality, regimes of visibility and invisibility, semiotic situated acts and art, ephemerality, permanence and mediatization, the political economy of place as well as the changing symbolic and economic value of street art tapping into issues of subcultural status and social class identities. This collection of papers draws on a range of theoretical frameworks and methodological approaches providing readers with interdisciplinary insights into the complex and changing nature of street art to account (and better understand) this social semiotic phenomena.
... For a group of graffiti researchers (Ragazzoli, Harmanşah, and Salvador 2018: 7), some graffiti "still maintain their original fighting spirit -if perhaps weakenedagainst oppression and the discrimination against minorities," while some others "have evolved from a form of social protest into something less political which is more attentive to its artistic expression and technical execution." From the psychological point of view, graffiti provide, for their authors and readers, a sense of place belonging, a subcultural sense of place, a sense of community, and a sense of connection (Taylor, Pooley, and Carragher 2016). Chaffee (1993: 8, 9) defines political street art primarily as a collective medium (used mostly by organised political groups); it is a "partisan, non-neutral, politicised medium" (it criticises, antagonises, comments, suggests initiatives); it has a "competitive, non-monopolistic, democratic character" (promotes ideas or marginal groups); it is characterised by "direct expressive thought" (messages are simple, concise, synthesised); finally, it is "a highly adaptable medium" (uses different techniques and strategies). ...
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