Place, Authority, and Youth (Caitlin Sacks, Cameron Tidball-Sciullo, Alexia Vincent)

Authority: Austin expresses his belief that the authority caused the graffiti movement through of the fact that society placed the pressing restrictions against the youth of that time to contain them and keep them in their supposed correct “place.” By the time they acted against the rise of graffiti, authorities had removed any and all places in which the youths could call their own, which in turn left them to create their own “place” upon the city walls, stations, and public transportation. Through this time, the police attempted to contain the expansion of the graffiti movement within the youth culture. Society wanted to keep the hierarchical order intact where the youth knew their “place” in the world; however when graffiti took over New York, the police began to become more actively involved in the prevention of graffiti. The Transit Police had a “cat-and-mouse relationship,” as Austin puts it; with the struggle for control over the trains, stations, and storage areas, the writers began to morph with the changes made by the police and alter their ways so that they could continue to create their work even under the eye of the authority. They did so by altering the times they created their works or even their means of escape, causing more work for the Police. As response to the chase by the Transit Police, the writers would leave messages for them, as a way to taunt the police when the writers escaped; however the Police did not take kindly to this act and retorted by writing messages over the graffiti of the artist. In turn, this caused the piece of art to be ruined in the eyes of the writer. The “game” the two parties played allow us to see the present power struggle on the streets of New York at that time. Many artists believed that The Cross Out Crew (the notorious group of people who would tarnish graffiti works by painting over the work, or in other words “crossing it out”) was a section of the police.

A point that Austin brings to the table is that this version of cat-and-mouse is more of a question of bodies: young men versus older cops, local knowledge versus universal law, and commitment to peer culture versus commitment to a salary. By putting the power struggle in this light, Austin shows how the writers had an upper hand in all aspects of the scenario. The old police men were dealing with young boys ranging from twelve to twenty-two who knew the lay of the land and had the map of New York internalized. The police were no match in these regards; however they could try to prevent the writing from being created in the first place. - Grand Master Melle Mel Beat Street Breakdown - lets print off these lyrics for class/we should probably write a small blurb about this.

 The authority began to make more arrests and profile the artists to make it easier to prevent and catch the writers. The police say they had made over four-thousand arrests of writers by the late seventies as well as made profiles of many of the writers. The police used this information to harass youth that they believed to be writers and even sent them to court, however the courts did not see the writing as a major offense. At this time, the writers were more afraid of the police and how they would beat them than they were of what the courts would do to them or their record. This shows how the police began to try and take the hierarchy into their own hands when they did not like the outcome of the court’s decisions against graffiti, and once again tried to place the youth of that time in the nonexistent “place” they should be. Also, here are more songs to look at as well, but they are more modern: http://www.complex.com/art-design/2012/02/the-25-best-songs-about-graffiti/#gallery







 Space: The concept of space and places are very prevalent in the graffiti world. Joe Austin breaks down space figuratively and literally in this article. He comments on how the older generation believes that young people should “know their place” in today’s “hierarchical social order.” It makes me think of the old saying, “children should be seen, not heard.” Oppression is based out of the fear of the unknown, fear of the uncontrollable, fear of what you do not understand. Therefore, adults are constantly oppressing kids and teenagers out of fear and misunderstanding of the new generation and their motives. Youth culture is born out of this oppression, as a way to combat their restrictions and create identities for themselves. Youth are surrounded by spaces that are off limits. Not even discussing gang territories, but instead spaces with age restrictions, such as bars, certain movies, being able to have a license, forced to have a 11 pm curfew. All of these restrictions are implemented by authority figures to restrict kids and teens from doing what they want to do. They’re forced out of certain spaces, so they need to create their own. When writing was becoming popular, these artists created spaces wherever they tagged. Crossing borders between gang territories became common, with the writers having a mutual respect for one another’s work. The point was to spread a message, to become famous. These Puerto Rican and Black neighborhoods were often described as being invisible. Using art was a way for these youth to break out of their invisibility and express themselves in a way that would get them noticed. The youth started out by redefining the purpose of certain spaces. Basketball courts no longer just signified a place to shoot hoops, but it was now a place of artistic and cultural relevance. What was very innovative was the way the writers utilized subway cars. They literally created a moving space, that communicated messages spread over vast areas of land. The mobility of the train cars allowed for these messages to leave the bronx and travel to other parts of New York, allowing the youth to be heard all over. “More than three million people a day [rode] the trains,” which meant all those people would be seeing the message painted on the subway cars. Not only that, but “writers’ works [had] appeared in the backgrounds of innumerable television shows, films, news photographs, paintings, and literary representations” (Austin, 243). All of this media covered allowed the youth to be heard in ways in which they would never have previously thought of.* A main space that youth declared as their own were “the MTA’s yards and layups,” which were transformed into “studio[s], galler[ies], and classroom[s]” (Austin, 246). The writers memorized maps of the subway and the city. They knew all the underground tunnels and secret passageways, but once the police began monopolizing these once unguarded spaces, they had to figure out new ways to sneak around. The writers would cut holes in the fences, quite literally creating a new secret path to enter into the yards. This is genius. Their mentality is that if there is no space, then just create it yourself. Lastly, the youth took advantage of “hiding” in the daylight. They decided to utilize the space that had always been designed for them, such as the mall or a public park. They were being policed from meeting in secret, so they met in the open. This didn’t trigger any suspicions from adults because they were actively using the space that was made for them. It was the cleverest way to deceive the authority while playing by the rules. *On a slightly unrelated note, Austin writes, “ New York City is frequently mythologized in popular literature (and in it’s own boosterism) as a city where a person can ‘make a name for him/herself,’ where the individual can transform him/herself from a ‘nobody’ into a celebrity whose autograph is collected.” I’m not sure about the rest of you, but I instantly thought of Nickelodeon’s Taina. The show aired in 2001 and it only lasted a season, but for whatever reason I’ve had the theme song stuck in my head for 11 years. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T-lEfrRU8iU&feature=related (You’re welcome for that trip down memory lane) I honestly don’t remember the show but I just researched it and it’s about a young Puerto Rican woman growing up in NY and attending a performance art school in Manhattan. I think this is a prime example commodifying hip hop. Albeit, the show isn’t about hip hop as it is about urban youth and sending out the message: I’m going to be somebody in New York. This ties back in with youth being told by adults that they can be anything and do anything they want, as long as they’re home by 11 pm. - I think this video of The Roots represents a really great intersection of hip hop. It combines freestyling while doing graffiti. It’s a prime example of homologies in hip hop culture. It has the elements of flow and layering, the constant spraying from the can of paint as well as the constant flow of words to a beat.






 Youth: With graffiti being practiced by youth generally between the ages of twelve and twenty two, the influence it exerts on the youth is massive. At graffiti’s beginning it was manifested with the sheer intent of creating some sort of “place” in society for these oppressed youth and for communicating that to other youth throughout the expansive city. As graffiti began to mature the youth began “sampling” figures and ideas from various mediums that exist within youth culture and popular culture. By using television figures, anime characters, and even video games, participants were able to show they own artistic take on these things in the media that had been fed to them for however many years. This art form quickly became an extremely popular scene to be a part of, because all over the city people of similar social status were able to relate to each other through graffiti. As graffiti continued to grow and expand throughout the city these meetings began to become so large that specific places needed to be determined in order to host them. This is where the birth of the “Writer’s Bench” came in. These strategically located benches allowed writers to converse, compare, scope out new “canvases”, and meet important people in practicing the art form. These graffiti hot spots allowed youth a place to relate, create art, and learn new techniques from the masters of graffiti. These benches were also the places where you could go from being a nobody to a big, well respected head in the game. It was here that writers could speak on common problems and get encouraged/inspired by important writers. As these “writers benches” became more inhibited it attracted authority attention. And that was that. http://www.allcityblog.fr/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/THE-WRITERS-BENCH-511.jpg

After the discovery of writers benches throughout the city the police were able to compose some sort of profile for what a devious graffiti vandal generally looks like. This forced the participants in graffiti culture to develop more crafty ways to create their art. They began sneaking more, taking less risks, and even circulating orange vests in order to pass as train yard workers. More than anything, graffiti was an outlet for oppressed youths immensely creative energy. But graffiti also served as a common ground for youth to meet at. It gave them something to discuss that was completely their own, something fresh, something new, and something that was constantly adapting to each participant's ideas. Graffiti allowed youth to connect on something they all genuinely cared about