How To Stop People from Writing Graffiti

Graffiti - is it the ultra art form or is it a visual hazard, a perennial hazard that public walls and even street-facing private walls have to bear the brunt of? Whatever your perception, graffiti should either be banned 9and by that I mean effectively, not just by passing some toothless law that is not enforced) or should be well-regulated. This article is about how to stop people from writing graffiti. Well, simply put, the answer is no, you cannot. Surprised, shocked? Well, read on to know why.

Graffiti is like most other art forms: Some art-forms are readily accepted since they appeal to the aesthetics of the times; some are rejected because they offend the sense of morality, of religion, of belief-systems and what the supposed masses hold high and dear to themselves. At the end of the day, it cannot be denied that it is a form of expression - if it can be called art, if it is legal, then it has a right to survive. If it is not acceptable to the larger populace, then, as long as it is not illegal (for example, public display of nude children) then I see no reason why any art form should be stopped or prohibited. The same line of thinking would apply to graffiti as well.

It must not be forgotten that graffiti writing is not just a form of expression; it is a form of rebellion, of challenging the authority, of questioning the morality keepers and the social leaders of their actions, decisions and it dictates how the world should exist. In saying this, I hope to draw attention to the fact that the person writing graffiti is probably a genius or at the least a person who can think and express his thoughts, except they have not been channeled in the right direction and hence why he's wasting paint, money and time writing muck on public walls. Having said all that, here are some suggestions for stopping people from writing graffiti on places they should not be.

1. If you are a community leader, a local council-man, an enforcer of the law, a social worker or anyone interested in controlling/stopping graffiti writing, then ideally you will get the graffiti artist to know that you recognize it as an art form and that you think it has its own place in the society. Offer them a place free or charged nominally to express themselves by writing, for example, a long wall in the central park of your city or town or at the city museum or town hall back-side. This could help in a few ways - the rebellious spirit is broken when it is made legal; it's not kosher to write graffiti on specified walls. The expressions gain legitimacy and thus become serious. The writers themselves will encourage the good ones among them to become serious artists and painters and not just cause visual garbage.
2. Get them a free space in local news papers where good graffiti can be featured once a week. Recognition and fame could soon follow, thereby validating the person's existence and encouraging them to take up serious art or at the least stop from writing graffiti.

If all else fails, try what they do in countries like India - clean the walls where graffiti is written and then paint the walls with figures of gods, saints and holy symbols. Maybe that will deter the graffiti writers.