Tagging and Graffiti - Victoria University of Wellington
Tagging and Graffiti - Victoria University of Wellington
Tagging and Graffiti - Victoria University of Wellington
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<strong>Tagging</strong> <strong>and</strong> <strong>Graffiti</strong>: attitudes <strong>and</strong> experiences <strong>of</strong> New Zeal<strong>and</strong>ers<br />
NZ European 8 15.1 2 3.8 19 35.8 9 17.0 6 11.3 9 17.0<br />
Maori 6 9.2 2 3.1 25 38.5 27 41.5 2 3.1 3 4.6<br />
Pacific<br />
5 35.7 1 7.1 4 28.6 2 14.3 0 0.0 2 14.3<br />
peoples<br />
Asian 1 33.3 0 0.0 1 33.3 0 0.0 0 0.0 1 33.3<br />
European 2 40.0 0 0.0 1 20.0 0 0.0 1 20.0 1 20.0<br />
Other<br />
ethnicity<br />
2 5.7 2 5.7 18 51.4 8 22.9 3 8.6 2 5.7<br />
Have written 24 14.5 7 4.2 65 39.4 42 25.5 13 7.9 14 8.5<br />
Have<br />
sometimes<br />
written<br />
6 15.4 1 2.6 13 33.3 8 20.5 1 2.6 10 25.6<br />
Focus group discussion provided further elaboration on the range <strong>of</strong> different types <strong>and</strong><br />
writing that young people identify. Much <strong>of</strong> the discussion <strong>and</strong> evaluation <strong>of</strong> the legitimacy <strong>of</strong><br />
writing was related to the type <strong>and</strong> style. Fine gradations existed between, for example,<br />
scribbles, tags <strong>and</strong> bombs, which were forms <strong>of</strong> relatively unsophisticated writing that require<br />
no particular skill <strong>and</strong> were <strong>of</strong>ten associated in group discussions with v<strong>and</strong>alism. Indeed<br />
pieces <strong>of</strong> writing that were more sophisticated <strong>and</strong> valued by young people were, they noted,<br />
sometimes subject to degradation by having tags written over them: in that way graffiti itself<br />
was sometimes v<strong>and</strong>alised. One focus group participant expressed the distinctions between<br />
different forms in the following terms:<br />
There is a difference between tagging <strong>and</strong> bombing. We have that in south Taranaki.<br />
A lot <strong>of</strong> areas where the community youth get together <strong>and</strong> done a cool bomb on the<br />
wall. And yet when it is done like that <strong>and</strong> the youth are proud <strong>of</strong> something they<br />
have done, they don’t tag it, like we don’t see tagging as much. We get the youth<br />
involved in making bombing. It is still a problem but it is not as bad as it used to be.<br />
(Focus group participant)<br />
As Table 8 indicates, ‘creative expression’ was the most significant reason why respondents<br />
wrote graffiti. The second biggest category was ‘none <strong>of</strong> these’. Only very small proportions<br />
reported that they were motivated by a ‘sense <strong>of</strong> danger’ or the desire to ‘damage<br />
something’. Gender differences were marginal in response to this question: females were<br />
more likely than males to report that they participated in graffiti as ‘part <strong>of</strong> a group or<br />
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