So I'll start off by saying that I'm very in between about graffiti. Its kind of difficult for me to explain how I really feel about it. Graffiti is an art form of expression. And what is art? Well who's to say? I believe that art is supposed to inspire; to trigger something emotionally in us that the only thing we can give back to it is appreciation. When we started watching the video there was this guy who was talking about how when he does graffiti on a special place, he feels like he is connected to history. I thought this was nice and very moving. As he was talking and showing the camera some of his favorite places i actually felt him going back in time. In Cape Town people started posting things like "free Mandela." The people in this city felt like it meant something to them, it made a difference in peoples lives. It was a chance for them to make their voices heard. This is similar to the guy that started his graffiti with the Chicano movement. They both started graffiti for practically the same reason. I support people that do their graffiti for a reason, for a purpose. I support the type of graffiti that when you see it you feel something inside of you and it moves you. In my last post, i mentioned that art is everywhere and everything and anything can be art. There are people in other countries that do graffiti because that's the only way they can be heard. I was touched by the different types of graffiti in those other cities and countries, but when they started talking about the graffiti in Los Angeles my mood drastically changed. It seems to me that here in LA graffiti is more gang related. I believe that an artist would want other people to express themselves too, but that is not the case because like the guy in the video said, people get shot just for tagging in another gangs space. People getting killed for trying to express themselves by other people who are trying to express themselves? I simply don't understand this! And also, these people aren't just trying to express themselves, they are trying to declare a territory that honestly doesn't belong to them. It belongs to the people of the community and the people of the city. I would like to think that art is something beautiful and emotional, but then again scribbles that mean nothing to me could mean everything to someone else. Like beauty, art too is in the eye of the beholder.
