Our Desires are Ungovernable: Writing Graffiti in Public Spaces

Abstract

Our aim in this article is to contribute to the body of research on graffiti by considering some of the hitherto hidden aspects of graffiti culture. Drawing on detailed interviews with graffiti writers, we examine four main themes: motivations for graffiti writing; thresholds dividing ‘art’ from ‘vandalism’; writers’ reactions to ‘blank’ surfaces; and graffiti’s relation to other types of crime. We orient our discussion towards the affective dimensions of the activity in the hope that the words of writers become a visible and productive presence in urban (and academic) space.