"Graffiti" is a deceptively simple term that often masks more than it reveals. It gets used to cover a wide variety of styles and activities, and is a blunt instrument that fails to distinguish between art and vandalism.
This unease about the term would explain the preponderance of inverted commas around its use in a new report where researchers have gone out to talk to those who know most about it: young writers themselves.
The report was done for Newcastle City Council, and warns that a tough clampdown on graffiti would only result in an increase in illegal spraying.
What the report says is needed is a range of initiatives including legal sites and diversion and education projects.
Newcastle estimates that graffiti costs it around 1.25m a year to clean up, and it has created a Graffiti Forum to respond "innovatively and proactively" to the issue. The forum commissioned the PEANuT project (Participatory Evaluation and Appraisal in Newcastle upon Tyne) at the University of Northumbria to contact and document the views of those people most directly concerned: local communities and young people and youth workers involved in the local graffiti scene.
The reasons for getting involved were various, but the key motivation is the need to be seen, "to get up". Among members of the public, researchers found that as many liked graffiti as disliked it, although positive feelings were stronger at the more artistic end of the spectrum and more negative towards "tagging" - the spraying of a writer's signature.
Active graffiti artists and youth workers blamed current problems in the city on a clampdown that has resulted in the proliferation of quicker, less risky, forms of graffiti, and on a lack of legal sites that could help new artists move on from basic tagging to more acceptable styles.
They told researchers there had been a recent increase in newcomers who lack knowledge about the graffiti scene and its culture and etiquette.
Tagging and "bombing" of an area with prolific graffiti was part of "getting up" - a writer's need to be seen - and is a developmental stage that most writers pass through.
The research specifically asked about the potential for creating legal sites to reduce less acceptable forms of graffiti. Young people were enthusiastic in contributing ideas for how such sites and projects could be run, and said they could reduce risk and help reduce conflict. But they did warn that such sites were unlikely to completely eliminate illegal graffiti, and that this should not be an aim.
Some writers were never likely to come within the fold in this way, but there was a feeling that a lack of legal sites stopped some writers from moving on from early developmental stages towards more elaborate and more widely acceptable work. All in all, they felt there was nothing to be lost by giving it a try, and it was more likely to have an impact than measures such as zero tolerance initiatives, rapid removal, CCTV or increased court punishments. These were, in fact, likely to inspire certain writers to take revenge on authority.
Dr Duncan Fuller, research co-ordinator, said: "It became clear that only a minority of writers set out to confront and annoy authority. However, many writers get caught up in a reactionary 'war' as authorities attempt to clamp down on their actions."
The report was launched at an exhibition of spray can art at Raby Youth Centre in Byker, supported by Newcastle Gateshead Initiative as part of the city's bid to become European Capital of Culture in 2008.
Newcastle City Council has already started work on creating partnerships to look in detail at what can be done, including representatives from its Play and Youth Service and local interests including Metro operator Nexus and graffiti writers themselves. A compendium of potential solutions will be published later this year.
Copies of the report Exploring Solutions to 'graffiti' in Newcastle upon Tyne are available priced 15 from University of Northumbria/ PEANuT on 0191 227 3951 or email: ge.peanut@northumbria.ac.uk
RESEARCH FINDINGS
- The war on graffiti has not been won, and seems unlikely to ever be if it focuses only on prevention and punishment
- Local community groups report that uncontrolled graffiti makes people feel unsafe and vulnerable, but different forms of graffiti solicit different responses - many people feel positive about the more artistic styles
- Graffiti writers usually develop from tagging towards more complex work: if the scene is harassed, it is harder to develop out of simpler forms and writers may respond by goading authority
- Legal sites with support from youth workers offer an opportunity to divert some from illegal activity and help others to grow towards more mature styles.
