Graffiti: Then and Now

Today, we see graffiti everywhere - from scribbles on bathroom stalls to giant painted murals on buildings. The need to immediately express oneself is nothing new, and in fact is something that has connected humans throughout history.

One of the first known artworks is also a work of graffiti. The Hall of the Bulls in Lascaux, France is the inside of a cave, covered with paintings from 15,000 BCE of human figures chasing and hunting bulls and deer. This may not seem like our modern graffiti - but these pre-historic peoples felt a need to depict their hunts - perhaps it was a form of tagging, to boast of their success at hunting, or a way to show future people about their skills and history.

Another example of ancient graffiti are the "Talking Statues of Rome." The first talking statue was Pasquino, an ancient statue dug up and erected near Rome's Piazza Navona in the 1500's. The Cardinal held a celebration for the discovery of the statue, and wrapped it in a toga. Soon, however, people would anonymously post letters or writings of anger or dissatisfaction with the government, religious leaders, or the way life in Rome was going. Pasquino, although a lifeless statue, became a voice for the people of Rome.

Soon, other statues started being used for the same purpose throughout the city, such as Il Babuino. Il Babuino was cleaned of all its graffiti a few years ago, but it used to be a place where anyone could go to voice their feelings, positive or negative. These are pictures from before and after the cleaning:

Burlington, along with cities and towns across the world, contains graffiti. This is a video created by my friend and senior at St. Michael's, Andy Kuzmin, about graffiti in Burlington. See anything you recognize?

Photos by Craig Ledoux

Sometimes, graffiti is a picture, other times it is the tag of a certain artist, and still other times it is a scribbled message or phrase; regardless, it was something that person felt had to be painted or written, to show or speak to others. In this way, we are very similar to even the cave dwellers of thousands of years ago.