In case you hadn't noticed, we have quite a few graffiti vandals in Charlotte.Photographer Jonathan Jones traveled throughout Charlotte to photograph some of the recent graffiti that has popped up around town and contributed to this post and photo slideshow.
The term graffiti comes from the Greek word graphein, which means, "to write." There many types of graffiti: gang graffiti, graffiti done by 'taggers', hate/political graffiti, and generic graffiti. Graffiti is illegal and considered vandalism if done without permission.
Graffiti is words, colors, and shapes drawn or scratched on buildings, overpasses, train cars and other surfaces.Graffiti can range from simple, one-color monikers (nicknames) called "tags" repeated on many surfaces to more complex and time consuming graffiti, in which the vandal uses several colors.
Taggers usually think of their graffiti as a "piece," presumably short for "masterpiece." This kind of piece is usually designed ahead of time, and may have been sketched out in a notebook beforehand. Many taggers believe what they are doing is street art and not a crime.
Gang graffiti is done to usually done to mark their territory or "turf" by tagging a space such as a wall on building near or on the boundaries of a gang's turf to inform other gangs of their presence. The tag will usually have the name of the gang.Gang Graffiti is also used to communicate with other gangs- usually to warn them of a coming assassination of a certain member. The will sometimes write the member's street name and crossing it out, or by finding tags by the member and crossing them out. If a gang overwrites another gang's tag, it is also the symbol of a takeover of a gang's turf or a sign of aggression toward the gang.
Generic graffiti is non-threatening, with messages like "Jack loves Jane" or "Class of 2003"). A recent form of graffiti is vandals posting stickers on property and buildings.
Additional Graffiti resources:
* City of Charlotte graffiti page
* USDOJ: 2005 National Gang Threat Assessment
* For Parents: Is your child involved in a gang?
* Prevention: Tips for Businesses
* Graffiti Removal
Gang Profiles:
*Mara Salvatrucha aka MS-13 *18th Street Gang *Crips *Bloods *Latin Kings *Surenos aka SUR 13 *United Blood Nation *Vice Lords *Mexican Mafia
- Local graffiti vandal website