"I Am": The Voice of Graffiti By Salomon Zavala and Richard Mora On a summer night, a dark clad figure runs across the lanes of a Los Angeles freeway, dodging fast-moving vehicles. He maneuvers his body around barbed wire and climbs a center pole up onto an overpass freeway sign. As he tries to gather his balance, he opens his backpack and pulls out a spray-paint can. While hanging for life with one hand, he diligently outlines with the other the letters of his ‘tag’ (a distinct name that each graffiti writer chooses to use). When semi- trucks and other large vehicles rumble below, the sign trembles causing him to slip and nearly fall onto the freeway—a situation that almost surely means death. This shadowy figure is a graffiti writer and his experience is shared by many youth in urban settings throughout the United States. Since the beginning of aerosol graffiti in the late seventies in New York City, when graffiti writers would risk being electrocuted and killed just to put up their tag on city subways, many writers continue to risk their lives to write their names. What drives graffiti writers to endanger their lives simply to put up their tags or pieces, intricate letter patterns with complex color schemes and backgrounds? As Wel, a Los Angeles graffiti writer puts it, "It’s me showing and yelling to the world my name and my crews...I exist...I am." In Los Angeles, some youth—mainly Latinos— consider graffiti a form of art through which they can express themselves and demonstrate their artistic talents to the world. Swan, a writer from L.A.’s infamous UTI (Using The Imagination) crew (a group of artists who take on an acronym and work together), states, "In poor urban neighborhoods youngsters want an identity. They want to know they exist in society... so they pick up a marker or a spray can and write their name. I was here. That’s me." In impoverished communities youth do not have much, if any, access to art programs. Nor can they afford to attend art schools so they turn to graffiti as a way to develop and practice their artwork. Besides being a form of self-expression, graffiti can also be therapeutic for young people who must contend with the stress of urban poverty. "It’s like therapy….I may be angry one day and just go out and paint and get it all out. It’s very relaxing when I’m out there painting... I forget about all my problems. I forget that I am even part of this world," says Duce, a graffiti artist and muralist from South Central Los Angeles. On the streets of Los Angeles, the graffiti subculture also serves as an alternative to street gangs. "When you are in your early teens you are really impressionable. When you are at that age you are asking yourself, ‘Where do I belong?’ You have lots of gangs in L.A. and a lot of things to deal with...you look at how violent gangs are and then you look at how easy it is to do graffiti...you just come up with a name and write," says Swan. The manner in which graffiti writers settle disputes and problems among themselves is indicative of the difference between the world of graf (graffiti) and the gang world. Whereas gangs in L.A. seek to resolve their problems by fighting or shooting at one another, graf writers take their squabbles to the walls in what is known as a "battle." A battle is an artistic competition, usually between two individuals or two crews. The winner is determined by a neutral judge, who critiques the quality of the two parties’ works based on creativity, style, and innovation. During one of L.A.’s classic battles, which took place in 1989 between Hex and Slick, a message that captures the essence of the graf world was incorporated into a piece: "Why can’t all wars be settled on a wall?" In the graffiti world, writers put up their names in as many visible places as possible to be seen and recognized by others, especially graf writers. Gin, a veteran graf writer from TNT (The Dynamite Team) crew, states: "Doing graffiti is something that no one can take from me. It’s like my little world were I can be famous." Indeed this subculture functions as a world in which writers can become "known" based on both the quantity and quality of their artwork. "You have to stand out from the others, so I do my name on riskier spots like bridges and I also do my name bigger than other writers," says Duce. This competition among writers is like a sport in which crews seek to "get up" more than other crews. "The graffiti world is a microcosm of the real world. There is politics, beefs [personal animosity], treaties, truces, rumors and back- stabbings. But there is also many positive things like friendships and good times," says Skill, a member of the UTI crew and one of the world’ s most known and respected graffiti writers. Graffiti has enabled many urban youth to interact and build life-long friendships with other writers of different ethnic, racial and socio-economic backgrounds, from suburbia to other cities. For many Los Angeles graf writers, the first people of different ethnic and economic backgrounds that they come in contact with are writers from crews in other areas. As Skill explains, "Being part of the graffiti world exposes youth to situations and cultures that they would not have been exposed to otherwise." In fact one of the most appealing and unique characteristics of this art form is that anyone from anywhere can become a respected graf writer. Your reputation in the graffiti world is based solely on your artistic skills, and not on any privileges that may come with your class, race, or gender. Although graffiti writers start-off by "tagging," through practice, experience, and advice from older members in their crew(s), most writers evolve into great artists. As such, they go on to paint elaborate "pieces," most painted illegally under the cover of night. They can be seen throughout the city on freeway walls, commercial buildings, and on the concrete banks of the Los Angeles River. Since these works are not commissioned, most are removed soon after. However, some pieces remain undisturbed for months, or even years, because their aesthetic quality is appreciated as much by commuters and graffiti removal squads as it is by other graf artists. By utilizing their artistic skills to benefit their neighborhoods, graffiti artists are able to gain recognition not only from the graffiti world, but also from their own communities. Describing his role as an artist in his community, Duce states: "My neighborhood is like an urban concrete jungle full of lifeless walls that are all so plain. I try to change that by adding color and using my artistic talents as a graffiti artist to beautify my neighborhood." Like Duce, many other graffiti artists have successfully utilized their skills to find acceptance and appreciation, while improving their barrios. They help their communities by transforming blank or defaced walls into elaborate murals with positive messages. Families and community members often pay small sums to have graffiti writers paint "Rest In Peace" murals. With the usage of Catholic imagery, such as La Virgen de Guadalupe, writers memorialize victims of drug overdoses and gang violence. This has become a tradition in many Latino, inner-city neighborhoods and, as Skill states, "It serves as a way to ensure that even though dead homies in the neighborhood are gone, they are not forgotten." Even though some graffiti writers become accepted as "legitimate" artists, having their artwork exhibited at museums and art shows, most are not. As a result, some feel that their work is being disregarded. "We just opened the largest art facility in the country [The Paul Getty Museum] and graffiti is not represented anywhere. If you asked anyone about graffiti art, they don’t even consider it a form of art. They just keep on passing us by," says Elfe, who has been doing graf art in Los Angeles for over five years. Many graffiti writers are trying to combat the negative stigma attached to their work, which they consider to be the main reason why their work is neglected in the mainstream art world. One way graf artists are doing this is by exhibiting their artwork to the world via the World Wide Web. The Internet allows them to display not only pictures of current pieces, but also pictures of pieces that may have already been removed or painted over. Barbed wire has not prevented graf writers from painting and neither will the harsher laws and stricter penalties against "graffiti vandals" that are being implemented in cities throughout the country. Graffiti is very meaningful to its practitioners. As a graf artist once wrote on his piece, "It’s a cold world out there, and graffiti is my blanket." We need to look at graf artists in relation to their social context. "Without any local outlets like museums, community centers or mentors, I created my own artistic activity and that was doing graffiti," states Duce. Unable to find more suitable ways to develop their skills as well as alternative venues where they can showcase their artwork, graf artists will continue to risk their lives in order to paint their names on the large overhead freeway signs known appropriately to graf artists as "the heavens."