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Graffiti.
The two sides

Graffiti is art

Graffiti is disgraceful

But is it

Art or an illegal practice?

What is it you may ask?

It’s a challenge.

Risky business in this world.

These characters in a play face a run against the cops

Fear of getting caught and locked up behind the scary metal bars

Society sees it as something wrong in this world

Graffiti isn’t all that bad

It’s the stereotypes that destroys it

It is art not appreciated

It consists of tags, pieces and throw ups

Beautiful and colorful letters sprawled across brick walls

Adding personality to the streets

People don’t seem to understand

Art isn’t just in a museum

It’s everywhere.

Street art isn’t recognized in the right way

Graffiti takes dedication

Graffiti takes risks

Graffiti takes skill

Graffiti takes creativity

Graffiti takes passion

Graffiti is art.

Not something to hide from.

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The biggest debate throughout our graffiti conversations was the range of different opinions and concepts of graffiti. The two sides consisted of believing that graffiti is art or an illegal act of vandalism. This intrigued me. Coming into this, I didn’t have an opinion/side on graffiti and little background knowledge on it. I was aware that a lot of people get in trouble for it, but I never got to see the perspective from a graffiti artist, until we read the play This Is Modern Art by Kevin Coval, I only heard about news stories of cops catching these “artists”. In the article, New York City’s War on Graffiti by Adam Mansbach, discusses how New York City is highly opposed to graffiti. The law enforcement’s description on public profiling was told was “black, brown….and vilified as sociopaths, drug addicts and monsters”. Mansbach seemed to believe that New York City has the wrong view. He stated that the city doesn’t listen to it’s young people and “didn’t recognize graffiti as an outpouring of creativity and frustration” (Mansbach). Society is not on the same page with each other in terms of graffitis purpose in this world. Perhaps people should be more accepting and let go of the negative connotations.