Revolution graffiti in Egypt By Fady El-Masry

1. Research by Fady El-Masry
Under supervise of Dr. Mohamed Ardash

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Revolution
Graffiti
in Egypt
Egypt after
March
2012 ,25
Copyright © 2012 by Fady El-Masry, All rights reserved. No part of this
book shall be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted by
any means electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise
without written permission from «Fady El-Masry», except in the case of a
reviewer, who may quote brief passages embodied in critical articles or in
a review.
No patent liability is assumed with respect to the use of the information
contained herein. Although every precaution has been taken in the
preparation of this book, the publisher and author assume no responsibility
for errors or omissions. Neither is any liability assumed for damages
resulting from the use of the information contained herein.
Published in all world by: Fady El-Masry
Contact Info
Phone: 20127109171+
Email: fady.elmasry@hotmail.com
FB: www.fb.com/fad.adv
Library of Congress Control Number: ACK 2207902347

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Graffiti is writing or drawings scribbled,
scratched, or sprayed illicitly on a wall
or other surface in a public place.
Graffiti ranges from simple written
words to elaborate wall paintings,
and has existed since ancient times,
with examples dating back to Ancient
Greece and the Roman Empire.
Graffiti materials.
In most countries,
marking or painting
property
In modern times, paint, particularly
spray paint, and marker pens have
become the most commonly used
graffiti materials. In most countries,
marking or painting property without the
property owner›s consent is considered
defacement and vandalism, which is
a punishable crime. Graffiti may also
express underlying social and political
Graffiti
IN Modern
times
messages and a whole genre of artistic
expression is based upon spray paint
graffiti styles. Within hip hop culture,
graffiti has evolved alongside hip hop
music, b-boying, and other elements.
[Unrelated to hip-hop graffiti, gangs
use their own form of graffiti to mark
territory or to serve as an indicator of
gang-related activities.
Controversies that surround graffiti
continue to create disagreement
amongst city officials/law enforcement
and writers who wish to display and
appreciate work in public locations.
There are many different types and
styles of graffiti and it is a rapidly
developing art form whose value is
highly contested, reviled by many
authorities while also subject to
protection, sometimes within the same
jurisdiction.
This Sunday, March 2012 ,25 combo
image made from ten photos shows
graffiti paintings depicting slain soccer
fans that are part of a campaign
carried out by activists following a
soccer riot earlier this year with dozens
of deaths, are seen on the streets of
Cairo, Egypt. After Egypt›s ruling military
sealed off streets around Cairo›s Tahrir
Square with walls of imposing concrete
blocks, a group of artists decided to
reopen the avenues on their own in the
public imagination, at least. - AP Photo
March
2012 ,25

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Ancient graffiti, Church of the Holy
Sepulcher, Jerusalem
Graffiti and graffito are from the Italian
word graffiato ("scratched"). "Graffiti"
is applied in art history to works of art
produced by scratching a design into
a surface. A related term is "sgraffito",
which involves scratching through one
layer of pigment to reveal another
beneath it. This technique was primarily
used by potters who would glaze their
wares and then scratch a design into
it. In ancient times graffiti was carved
on walls with a sharp object, although
sometimes chalk or coal were used. The
word originates from Greek — graphein
— meaning "to write."
The term graffiti
referred to the
inscriptions, figure
drawings, etc.,
found on the
walls of ancient
sepulchers or ruins,
as in the Catacombs of Rome or at
Pompeii. Usage of the word has evolved
to include any graphics applied to
surfaces in a manner that constitutes
vandalism.
The earliest forms of graffiti date back
to 30,000 BC in the form of prehistoric
cave paintings and pictographs using
tools such as Animal bones and
pigments. These illustrations were
often placed in ceremonial and sacred
locations inside of the caves. The images
drawn on the walls showed scenes of
animal wildlife and hunting expeditions in
most circumstances. This form of graffiti
is subject to disagreement considering
it is likely that members of prehistoric
society endorsed the creation of these
illustrations.
The only known source of the Safaitic
language, a form of proto-Arabic, is
from graffiti: inscriptions scratched on to
the surface of rocks and boulders in the
predominantly basalt desert of southern
Syria, eastern Jordan and northern
Saudi Arabia. Safaitic dates from the 1st
century BC to the 4th century AD.
Etymology
History
The first known example of "modern
style" graffiti survives in the ancient
Greek city of Ephesus (in modern-
day Turkey). Local guides say it is an
advertisement for prostitution. Located
near a mosaic and stone walkway, the
graffiti shows a handprint that vaguely
resembles a heart, along with a footprint
and a number. This is believed to
indicate that a brothel was nearby, with
the handprint symbolizing payment.
The ancient Romans carved graffiti
on walls and monuments, examples
of which also survive in Egypt. Graffiti
in the classical world had different
connotations than it carries in today›s
society concerning content. Ancient
graffiti displayed phrases of love
declarations, political rhetoric, and
simple words of thought compared to
today›s popular messages of social and
political ideals The eruption of Vesuvius
preserved graffiti in Pompeii, including
Latin curses, magic spells, declarations
of love, alphabets, political slogans
and famous literary quotes, providing
insight into ancient Roman street life.
One inscription gives the address of
a woman named Novellia Primigenia
of Nuceria, a prostitute, apparently of
great beauty, whose services were
much in demand. Another shows a
phallus accompanied by the text›.
Historic forms of graffiti have helped
gain understanding into the lifestyles
and languages of past cultures. Errors
in spelling and grammar in this graffiti
offer insight into the degree of literacy in
Roman times and provide clues on the
pronunciation of spoken Latin. Examples
are CIL IV, 7838: Vettium Firmum /
aed. Here, «qu» is pronounced «co.»
The 83 pieces of graffiti found at CIL
IV, 85-4706 are evidence of the ability
to read and write at levels of society
where literacy might not be expected.
The graffiti appear on a peristyle which
was being remodeled at the time of the
eruption of Vesuvius by the architect
Crescens. The graffiti was left by both
the foreman and his workers. The
brothel at CIL VII, 20–18 ,12 contains
over 120 pieces of graffiti, some of
which were the work of the prostitutes
and their clients. The gladiatorial
academy at CIL IV, 4397 was scrawled
with graffiti left by the gladiator Celadus
Crescens (Suspirium puellarum Celadus
thraex: «Celadus the Thracian makes
the girls sigh.
It was not only the Greeks and Romans
that produced graffiti: the Mayan site of
Tikal in Guatemala also contains ancient
examples. Viking graffiti survive in Rome
and at Newgrange Mound in Ireland,
and a Varangian scratched his name
(Halvdan) in runes on a banister in the
Hagia Sophia at Constantinople. These
early forms of graffiti have contributed
to the understanding of lifestyles and
languages of past cultures.
Graffiti, known as Tacherons, were
frequently scratched on Romanesque
Scandinavian church walls
Modern-
style graffiti

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Graffiti is often seen as having become
intertwined with hip hop culture and
the myriad international styles derived
from New York City Subway graffiti.
However, there are many other
instances of notable graffiti this century.
Graffiti has long appeared on railroad
boxcars and subways. The one with
the longest history, dating back to the
1920s and continuing into the present
day, is Texino. During World War II and
for decades after, the phrase «Kilroy
was here» with accompanying illustration
was widespread throughout the world,
due to its use by American troops and
its filtering into American popular culture.
Shortly after the death of Charlie Parker
(nicknamed «Yardbird» or «Bird»), graffiti
began appearing around New York
with the words «Bird Lives». The student
protests and general strike of May 1968
saw Paris bedecked in revolutionary,
anarchist, and situationist slogans such
as L›ennui est contre-révolutionnaire
(«Boredom is counterrevolutionary»)
expressed in painted graffiti, poster
art, and stencil art. In the U.S. at the
time other political phrases (such as
«Free Huey» about Black Panther
Huey Newton) became briefly popular
as graffiti in limited areas, only to be
forgotten. A popular graffito of the 1970s
was the legend «Dick Nixon Before He
Dicks You», reflecting the hostility of the
youth culture to that U.S. president.
Rock and roll graffiti is a significant
sub genre. A famous graffito of the
20th century was the inscription in the
London subway reading «Clapton is
God». The phrase was spray-painted
by an admirer on a wall in an Islington
Underground station in the autumn of
1967. The graffiti was captured in a
photograph, in which a dog is urinating
on the wall. Graffiti also became
associated with the anti-establishment
punk rock movement beginning in the
1970s. Bands such as Black Flag
and Crass (and their followers) widely
stenciled their names and logos, while
many punk night clubs, squats and
hangouts are famous for their graffiti.
In the late 1980s the upside down
Martini glass that was the tag for punk
band Missing Foundation was the most
ubiquitous graffito in lower Manhattan,
and copied by hard core punk fans
throughout the U.S. and West Germany.
Along similar lines was the legend «Frodo
Lives», referring to the protagonist of The
Lord of the Rings.
Modern
graffiti
In 1979, graffiti artist Lee Quinones and
Fab 5 Freddy were given a gallery
opening in Rome by art dealer Claudio
Bruni. For many outside of New York,
it was their first encounter with the art
form. Fab 5 Freddy›s friendship with
Debbie Harry influenced Blondie›s
single «Rapture» (Chrysalis, 1981), the
video of which featured Jean-Michel
Basquiat, and offered many their first
glimpse of a depiction of elements of
graffiti in hip hop culture. JaJaJa toured
Germany, Switzerland, Belgium, and
Holland with her a large graffiti canvas
as a backdrop. Charlie Ahearn›s
independently released fiction film Wild
Style (Wild Style, 1983), the early PBS
documentary Style Wars (1983), hit
songs such as «The Message» and
«Planet Rock» and their accompanying
music videos (both 1982) contributed
to a growing interest outside New York
in all aspects of hip hop. Style Wars
depicted not only famous graffiti artists
such as Skeme, Dondi, MinOne and
Zephyr, but also reinforced graffiti›s role
within New York›s emerging hip hop
culture by incorporating famous early
break dancing groups such as Rock
Steady Crew into the film and featuring
rap in the soundtrack. Style Wars is
still recognized as the most prolific film
representation of what was going on
within the young hip hop culture of the
early 1980s. Fab 5 Freddy and Futura
2000 took hip hop graffiti to Paris and
London as part of the New York City
Rap Tour in 1983.Hollywood also paid
attention, consulting writers like PHASE
2 as it depicted the culture and gave
it international exposure in movies like
Beat Street (Orion, 1984).
This period also saw the emergence
of the new stencil graffiti genre. Some
of the first examples were created ca
1981 by graffiti artist Blek le Rat in Paris;
by 1985 stencils had appeared in other
cities including New York City, Sydney
and Melbourne, where they were
documented by American photographer
Charles Gatewood and Australian
photographer Rennie Ellis
Spread
of graffiti
culture

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People often leave their traces in wet
cement or concrete. This type of
graffiti often commemorates the mutual
commitment of a couple, or simply
records a person›s presence at a
particular moment. Often this type of
graffiti is dated and is left untouched
for decades, offering a look into local
historical minutiae.
An example of crossover between video
game culture and graffiti culture found
on the Berlin Wall
With the popularity and legitimization
of graffiti has come a level of
commercialization. In 2001, computer
giant IBM launched an advertising
campaign in Chicago and San
Francisco which involved people spray
painting on sidewalks a peace symbol,
a heart, and a penguin (Linux mascot),
to represent «Peace, Love, and Linux.»
However due to illegalities some of
the «street artists» were arrested and
charged with vandalism, and IBM
was fined more than US120,000$ for
punitive and clean-up costs.
In 2005, a similar ad campaign was
launched by Sony and executed by
TATS CRU in New York, Chicago,
Atlanta, Philadelphia, Los Angeles and
Miami to market its handheld PSP
gaming system. In this campaign, taking
notice of the legal problems of the IBM
campaign, Sony paid building owners
for the rights to paint on their buildings
«a collection of dizzy-eyed urban kids
playing with the PSP as if it were a
skateboard, a paddle or a rocking
horse.»
Along with the commercial growth has
come the rise of video games also
depicting graffiti, usually in a positive
aspect – for example, the Jet Set
Radio series (2003–2000) tells the
story of a group of teens fighting the
oppression of a totalitarian police force
that attempts to limit the graffiti artists›
freedom of speech. In plotlines mirroring
the negative reaction of non-commercial
artists to the commercialization of
the art form by companies like IBM
(and, later, Sony itself) the Rakugaki
Ekoku series (2005–2003) for Sony›s
PlayStation 2 revolves around an
anonymous hero and his magically
imbued-with-life graffiti creations as they
struggle against an evil king who only
allows art to be produced which can
benefit him. Following the original roots
of modern graffiti as a political force
came another game title, Marc Eck
Getting Up: Contents Under Pressure
(2006), featuring a story line involving
fighting against a corrupt city and its
oppression of free speech, as in the Jet
Set Radio series.
Other games which feature graffiti
include Bomb the World (2004), an
online graffiti simulation created by
graffiti artist Klark Kent where users
can virtually paint trains at 20 locations
worldwide, and Super Mario Sunshine
(2002), in which the hero, Mario must
clean the city of graffiti left by the villain,
Graffiti as a
memorial
Entrance
into
mainstream
pop culture
Bowser Jr. in a plotline which evokes
the successes of the Anti-Graffiti Task
Force of New York›s Mayor Rudolph
Giuliani (a manifestation of «broken
window theory») or those of the «Graffiti
Blasters» of Chicago›s Mayor Richard
M. Daley.
Numerous other non-graffiti-centric video
games allow the player to produce
graffiti (such as the Half-Life series, the
Tony Hawk›s series, The Urbz: Sims in
the City, Rolling and Grand Theft Auto:
San Andreas). Counter-Strike which is
a Half-Life mod allows user to create
their own and tag in game. Many other
titles contain in-game depictions of
graffiti (such as The Darkness, Double
Dragon 3: The Rosetta Stone, NetHack,
Samurai Champloo: Sidetracked, The
World Ends with You, The Warriors,
Just Cause, Portal, various examples of
Virtual Graffiti, etc.). There also exist a
host of games where the term «graffiti»
is used as a synonym for «drawing»
(such as Yahoo! Graffiti, Graffiti, etc.).
Marc Ecko, an urban clothing designer,
has been an advocate of graffiti as an
art form during this period, stating that
«Graffiti is without question the most
powerful art movement in recent history
and has been a driving inspiration
throughout my career.
Keith Haring was another well-known
graffiti artist who brought Pop Art and
graffiti to the commercial mainstream.
In the 1980s, Haring opened his
first Pop Shop: a store that offered
everyone access to his works—which
until then could only be found spray-
painted on city walls. Pop Shop offered
commodities like bags and t-shirts.
Haring explained that «The Pop Shop
makes my work accessible. It›s about
participation on a big level, the point
was that we didn›t want to produce
things that would cheapen the art.
In other words, this was still art as
statement».
Graffiti has become a common
stepping stone for many members of
both the art and design community in
North America and abroad. Within the
United States Graffiti Artists such as
Mike Giant, Pursue, Rime, Noah and
countless others have made careers
in skateboard, apparel and shoe
design for companies such as DC
Shoes, Adidas, Rebel8 Osiris or Circa
Meanwhile there are many others such
as DZINE, Daze, Blade, The Mac that
have made the switch to gallery artists
often times not even using their initial
medium, spray paint.
But perhaps the greatest example of
graffiti artists infiltrating mainstream pop
culture is by the French crew, 123Klan.
123Klan founded as a graffiti crew in
1989 by Scien and Klor, have gradually
turned their hands to illustration and
design while still maintaining their graffiti
practice and style. In doing so they have
designed and produced, logos and
illustrations, shoes, and fashion for the
likes of Nike, Adidas, Lamborghini, Coca
Cola, Stussy, Sony, Nasdaq and more.

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South America
There is a significant graffiti tradition
in South America, especially in Brazil.
Within Brazil, São Paulo is generally
considered to be the current centre
of inspiration for many graffiti artists
worldwide.
Brazil «boasts
a unique and
particularly rich
graffiti scene ... it an
international reputation as the place
to go for artistic inspiration.» Graffiti
«flourishes in every conceivable space
in Brazil›s cities.» Artistic parallels «are
often drawn between the energy of São
Paulo today and 1970s New York.»The
«sprawling metropolis,» of São Paulo
has «become the new shrine to
graffiti;» Manco alludes to «poverty and
unemployment ... the epic struggles and
conditions of the country›s marginalised
peoples,»and to «Brazil›s chronic
poverty,» as the main engines that
«have fuelled a vibrant graffiti culture.»In
world terms, Brazil has «one of the
most uneven distributions of income.
Laws and taxes change frequently.»
Such factors, Manco argues, contribute
to a very fluid society, riven with those
economic divisions and social tensions
that underpin and feed the «folkloric
vandalism and an urban sport for the
disenfranchised,» that is South American
graffiti art.
Global
developments
Prominent Brazilian graffiti artists include
Os Gêmeos, Boleta, Nunca, Nina,
Speto, Tikka and T.Freak.Their artistic
success and involvement in commercial
design ventureshas highlighted divisions
within the Brazilian graffiti community
between adherents of the cruder
transgressive form of pichação and the
more conventionally artistic values of the
practitioners of grafite.

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Graffiti in Tehran,
Iran & Egypt
Graffiti in the Middle East is slowly
emerging, with pockets of taggers
operating in the various 'Emirates' of
the United Arab Emirates, in Israel, and
in Iran. The major Iranian newspaper
Hamshahri has published two articles
on illegal writers in the city with photo
coverage of Iranian artist A1one's works
on Tehran walls. Tokyo-based design
magazine PingMag has interviewed
Middle East
A1one and featured photos of his
work. The Israeli West Bank barrier has
become a site for graffiti, reminiscent
in this sense of the Berlin Wall. Many
graffiti artists in Israel come from other
places around the globe, such as JUIF,
from Los Angeles, and DEVIONE from
London. The religious reference ("Na
Nach Nachma Nachman Meuman") is
commonly seen graffitied around Israel.

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The modern day graffiti artist can
be found with an arsenal of various
materials that allow for a successful
production of a piece. This includes
such techniques as scribing. However,
spray paint in aerosol cans is the
number one necessity for graffiti. From
this commodity come different styles,
technique, and abilities to form master
works of visual graffiti. Spray paint can
be found at hardware and art stores
and come in virtually every color.
Methods
and
production
Stencil graffiti, originating in the early
1980s, is created by cutting out shapes
and designs in a stiff material (such as
cardboard or subject folders) to form an
overall design or image. The stencil is
then placed on the canvas gently and
with quick, easy strokes of the aerosol
can, the image begins to appear on the
intended surface. This method of graffiti
is popular amongst artists because of
its swift technique that requires very little
time. Time is always a factor with graffiti
due to the constant threat of getting
caught by law enforcement.
Modern graffiti art often incorporates
additional arts and technologies. For
example, Graffiti Research Lab has
encouraged the use of projected
images and magnetic light-emitting
diodes as new media for graffiti
writers. The Italian artist Kaso is
pursuing regenerative graffiti through
Modern
experimentation
experimentation with abstract shapes
and deliberate modification of previous
graffiti artworks. Yarnbombing is another
recent form of graffiti. Yarnbombers
occasionally target previous graffiti for
modification.

10. 18
www.fb.com/fad.adv Some of the most common styles of
graffiti have their own names. A «tag»
is the most basic writing of an artist›s
name, it is simply a handstyle. A graffiti
writer›s tag is his or her personalized
signature. Tagging is often the example
given when opponents of graffiti refer
to any acts of handstyle graffiti writing
(it is by far the most common form of
graffiti). Tags can contain subtle and
sometimes cryptic messages, and might
incorporate the artist›s crew initials
or other letters. One form of tagging
known as «pissing» is the act of taking
a refillable fire extinguisher and replacing
the contents inside with paint, allowing
for tags as high as around 20 feet.
Aiming and keeping a handstyle steady
Characteristics
of common
graffiti
in this form of tagging is very difficult,
usually coming out wavy and sloppy.
Another form is the «throw-up», also
known as a «bombing» which is
normally painted very quickly with two
or three colors, sacrificing aesthetics for
speed. Throw-ups can also be outlined
on a surface with one color. A «piece»
is a more elaborate representation of
the artist›s name, incorporating more
stylized letters, usually incorporating a
much larger range of colors. This of
course is more time consuming and
increases the likelihood of the artist
getting caught. A «blockbuster» or
«roller» is a large piece, almost always
done in a block shaped style, done
way to catch ups. While certain critics
from within graffiti culture consider this
lazy, stickers can be quite detailed in
their own right, and are often used
in conjunction with other materials.
Sticker tags are commonly done on
blank postage stickers, as these can
be easily acquired with no cost on the
writers part.
Many graffiti artists believe that doing
complex pieces involves too great an
investment of time to justify the practice.
Doing a piece can take (depending
on experience and size) 30 minutes
to months on end, as was the case
for Saber MSK while working on the
worlds largest graffiti piece on the LA
river. Another graffiti artist can go over
a piece in a matter of minutes with a
simple throw up. This was exemplified
by the writer «CAP» in the documentary
Style Wars, who, other writers
complain, ruins pieces with his quick
throw ups. This became known as
«capping» and is often done when there
is «beef», conflict between writers.
simply to cover a large area solidly with
two contrasting colours, sometimes with
the whole purpose of blocking other
writers from painting on the same wall.
These are usually accomplished with
extended paint rollers and gallons of
cheap exterior paint.
An example of the modern stencil
graffiti, a very common style, in Toronto
A more complex style is «wildstyle»,
a form of graffiti usually involving
interlocking letters and connecting
points. These pieces are often harder
to read by non-graffiti artists as the
letters merge into one another in an
often undecipherable manner. Some
artists also use stickers as a quick

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Theories on the use of graffiti by avant-
garde artists have a history dating back
at least to the Scandinavian Institute of
Comparative Vandalism in 1961. Many
contemporary analysts and even art
critics have begun to see artistic value
in some graffiti and to recognize it as a
form of public art., that type of public
art is, in fact an effective tool of social
emancipation or in the achievement of a
political goal.
Uses The murals of Belfast and of Los
Angeles offer another example of
official recognition. In times of conflict,
such murals have offered a means of
communication and self-expression for
members of these socially, The Berlin
Wall was also extensively covered by
Graffiti reflecting social pressures relating
to the oppressive Soviet rule over the
GDR.
Many artists involved with Graffiti also
music videos for singles «Galang»
and «Bucky Done Gun», and her
cover art. Stickers of her artwork also
often appear around places such as
London in Brick Lane, stuck to lamp
posts and street signs, having herself
become a muse for other graffiti artists/
painters worldwide in cities including
Seville. Graffiti artist John Fekner,
called «caption writer to the urban
environment, adman for the opposition»
by writer Lucy Lippard,was involved in
direct art interventions within New York
City›s decaying urban environment
in the mid-seventies through the
eighties. Fekner is known for his word
installations targeting social and political
issues, stenciled on buildings throughout
New York.
In Egypt after 25 january revolution
it become a tool to represent the
protesters ideas.
are concerned with the similar activity
of Stencilling. Essentially, this entails
stenciling a print of one or more colors
using spray-paint. Recognised while
exhibiting and publishing several of
her coloured stencils and paintings
portraying the ethnic conflict in Sri
Lanka and urban Britain in the
early 2000s, graffiti artist Mathangi
Arulpragasam a.k.a. M.I.A. has also
become known for integrating her
imagery of political violence into her

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Graffiti artists constantly have the
looming threat of facing consequences
for displaying their graffiti. Many choose
to protect their identities and reputation
by remaining anonymous.
With the commercialization of graffiti
(and hip hop in general), in most cases,
even with legally painted «graffiti» art,
graffiti artists tend to choose anonymity.
This may be attributed to various
reasons or a combination of reasons.
Graffiti still remains the 1 of 4 hip
hop elements that is not considered
«performance art» despite the image of
Anonymous
artists
the «singing and dancing star» that sells
hip hop culture to the mainstream. Being
a form of visual art, it might also be said
that many graffiti artists still fall in the
category of the introverted archetypal
artist.
Banksy is one of the world›s most
notorious and popular street artist
who continues to remain faceless in
today›s society. He is known for his
political, anti-war stencil art mainly in
Bristol, England but his work can be
seen anywhere from Los Angeles to
Palestine. In the UK, Banksy is the
A number of exhibitions have also taken
place since 2000, and recent works of
art have fetched vast sums of money.
Banksy›s art is a prime example of
the classic controversy: vandalism vs.
art. Art supporters endorse his work
distributed in urban areas as pieces of
art and some councils, such as Bristol
and Islington, have officially protected
them, while other officials have deemed
his work to be vandalism and have
removed it.
Pixnit is another artist who chooses
to keep her identity from the general
public. Her work focuses on beauty
and design aspects of graffiti as
opposed to Banksy›s anti-government
shock value. Her paintings are often
of flower designs above shops and
stores in her local urban area of
Cambridge, Massachusetts . Some
store owners endorse her work and
encourage others to do so as well.
«One of the pieces was left up above
Steve›s Kitchen, because it looks pretty
awesome»- Erin Scott, the manager of
New England Comics in Allston.
most recognizable icon for this cultural
artistic movement and keeps his identity
a secret to avoid arrest. Much of
Banksy›s artwork can be seen around
the streets of London and surrounding
suburbs, though he has painted pictures
around the world, including the Middle
East, where he has painted on Israel›s
controversial West Bank barrier with
satirical images of life on the other side.
One depicted a hole in the wall with an
idyllic beach, while another shows a
mountain landscape on the other side.

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Graffiti often has a reputation as part
of a subculture that rebels against
authority, although the considerations
of the practitioners often diverge and
can relate to a wide range of attitudes.
It can express a political practice
and can form just one tool in an
array of resistance techniques. One
early example includes the anarcho-
punk band Crass, who conducted
a campaign of stenciling anti-war,
anarchist, feminist and anti-consumerist
messages around the London
Radical and
political
Underground system during the late
1970s and early 1980s.
In Amsterdam graffiti was a major
part of the punk scene. The city was
covered with names as ‹De Zoot›,
‹Vendex› and ‹Dr Rat›.To document the
graffiti a punk magazine was started
called Gallery Anus. So when hip hop
came to Europe in the early 1980s
there already was a vibrant graffiti
culture.
Graffiti on the train line leading to Central
The developments of graffiti art
which took place in art galleries and
colleges as well as «on the street»
or «underground», contributed to the
resurfacing in the 1990s of a far
more overtly politicized art form in the
subvertising, culture jamming or tactical
media movements. These movements
or styles tend to classify the artists
by their relationship to their social and
economic contexts, since, in most
countries, graffiti art remains illegal in
many forms except when using non-
permanent paint. Since the 1990s a
growing number of artists are switching
to non-permanent paints for a variety
of reasons—but primarily because is
it difficult for the police to apprehend
and for the courts to sentence or even
convict a person for a protest that is as
fleeting and less intrusive than marching
in the streets. In some communities,
such impermanent works survive longer
than works created with permanent
paints because the community views
the work in the same vein as that of
Station in Amsterdam.
The student protests and general strike
of May 1968 saw Paris bedecked
in revolutionary, anarchist, and
situationist slogans such as L›ennui
est contre-révolutionnaire («Boredom is
counterrevolutionary») and Lisez moins,
vivez plus («Read less, live more»). While
not exhaustive, the graffiti gave a sense
of the millenarian and rebellious spirit,
tempered with a good deal of verbal
wit, of the strikers.

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the civil protester who marches in the
street—such protest are impermanent
but effective nevertheless.
In some areas where a number of artist
share the impermanence ideal, there
grows an informal competition. That is,
the length of time that a work escapes
destruction is related to the amount
of respect the work garners in the
community. A crude work that deserves
little respect would invariably be
removed immediately. The most talented
artist might have works last for days.
Artists whose primary object is to assert
control over property—and not primarily
to create of an expressive work of art,
political or otherwise—resist switching to
impermanent paints.
Contemporary practitioners, accordingly,
have varied and often conflicting
practices. Some individuals, such as
Alexander Brener, have used the
medium to politicize other art forms,
and have used the prison sentences
forced onto them as a means of further
protest.
has generally become favored by
groups excluded from the political
mainstream (e.g. far-left or far-right
groups) who justify their activity by
pointing out that they do not have the
money – or sometimes the desire – to
buy advertising to get their message
across, and that a «ruling class» or
«establishment» control the mainstream
press, systematically excluding the
radical/alternative point of view. This
type of graffiti can seem crude; for
example fascist supporters often scrawl
swastikas and other Nazi images.
One innovative form of graffiti that
emerged in the UK in the 1970s was
devised by the Money Liberation Front
(MLF), essentially a loose affiliation of
underground press writers such as the
poet and playwright Heathcote Williams
and magazine editor and playwright
Jay Jeff Jones. They initiated the use
of paper currency as a medium for
counterculture propaganda, overprinting
banknotes, usually with a John Bull
printing set. Although short lived the
MLF was representative of London›s
Ladbroke Grove centered alternative
and literary community of the period.
The practices of anonymous groups
and individuals also vary widely, and
practitioners by no means always
agree with each others› practices. Anti-
capitalist art group the Space Hijackers,
for example, did a piece in 2004 about
the contradiction between the capitalistic
elements of Banksy and his use of
political imagery.
On top of the political aspect of graffiti
as a movement, political groups and
individuals may also use graffiti as
a tool to spread their point of view.
This practice, due to its illegality,

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The area was also a scene of
considerable anti-establishment and
humorous street graffiti much of it also
produced by Williams.
In 2009, following
the elections in Iran,
protesters (who regarded the electoral
result as rigged) began to deface
banknotes with slogans such as
«Death to the dictator». In Colombia
writing and drawing on banknotes
has become increasingly popular,
either to make political comments,
for fun or as an artistic medium. The
national government has run advertising
campaigns in an attempt to discourage
the practice. In the UK there have
been signs of an MLF resurgence with
a number of banknotes in circulation
being over-marked with protest slogans
such as «Banks=Robbers», relating to
the perceived culpability of banks in the
financial crisis.
Gates in a peace line in West Belfast,
marking the boundary between
segregated communities in Northern
Ireland.
high walls that separate different
communities. The murals often develop
over an extended period and tend to
stylization, with a strong symbolic or
iconographic content. Loyalist murals
often refer to historical events dating
from the war between James II and
William III in the late 17th century,
whereas Republican murals usually refer
to the more recent troubles.
Territorial graffiti serves as marking
ground to display tags and logos
that differentiate certain groups from
others. These images are meant to
Both sides of the conflict in Northern
Ireland produce political graffiti. As well
as slogans, Northern Irish political graffiti
include large wall paintings, referred to
as murals. Along with the flying of flags
and the painting of kerb stones, the
murals serve a territorial purpose, often
associated with gang use.
Artists paint them
mostly on house
gables or on the
Peace Lines,
show outsiders a stern look at whose
turf is whose. The subject matter
of gang related graffiti consists of
cryptic symbols and initials strictly
fashioned with unique calligraphies.
Gang members use graffiti to designate
membership throughout the gang, to
differentiate rivals and associates and,
most commonly, to mark borders which
are both territorial and ideological.

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Graffiti has been used as a means
of advertising both legally and illegally.
In NYC, Bronx-based TATS CRU
has made a name for themselves
doing legal advertising campaigns for
companies like Coca Cola, McDonald›s,
Toyota, and MTV. In the U.K. Covent
Garden›s Boxfresh used stencil images
of a Zapatista revolutionary in the hopes
of cross referencing would promote
their store. Smirnoff hired artists to use
reverse graffiti (the use of high pressure
hoses to clean dirty surfaces to leave
a clean image in the surrounding dirt)
to increase awareness of their product.
Shepard Fairey rose to fame after
his «Andre the Giant Has a Posse»
sticker campaign, in which his art was
plastered in cities across America.
Many graffiti artists see legal
advertising as no more than ‹paid for
and legalised graffiti› and have risen
against mainstream adverts. The graffiti
research lab crew have gone on to
target several prominent adverts in
New York as a means of making a
statement against this criteria.
Graffiti can also be used as an
offensive expression. This form of graffiti
can be difficult to locate, as it is mostly
removed by the local authority (as
councils which have adopted strategies
of criminalization also strive to remove
graffiti quickly). Therefore, existing racist
graffiti is mostly more subtle and at first
sight not easily recognized as «racist».
It can then only be understood if one
knows the relevant «local code» (social,
historical, political, temporal and spatial),
which is seen as heteroglot and thus an
‹unique set of conditions›.
A spatial code could for example be,
that there is a certain youth group in an
area which is engaging heavily in racist
activities. So, for residents (knowing the
local code), a graffiti only containing the
name or abbreviation of this gang is
already a racist expression, reminding
the offended people of their gang
activities. Also a graffiti is in most cases
the herald of more serious criminal
activity. A person who does not know
these gang activities would not be able
to recognize the meaning of this graffiti.
Also if a tag of this youth group or
gang is placed on a building occupied
by asylum seekers, for example, its
racist character is even stronger.
Hence, the lack of obvious racist graffiti
does not necessarily mean that there
actually is none. By making the graffiti
less explicit (as adapted to social and
legal constraints), these drawings are
less likely to be removed but do not
lose their threatening and offensive
character
As
advertising
Offensive
graffiti

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In the early 1980s, the first Art Galleries
who started to show graffiti artists
to the public were Fashion Moda in
Bronx and Now Gallery in East Village,
Manhattan.
A 2006 exhibition
at the Brooklyn
Museum displayed
graffiti as an art
form that began in
New York›souter boroughs
and reached great heights in the early
‹80s with the work of Crash, Lee,
Daze, Keith Haring and Jean-Michel
Basquiat.
It displayed 22 works by New York
graffiti artists, including Crash, Daze
and Lady Pink. In an article about the
exhibition in Time Out Magazine, curator
Charlotta Kotik said that she hoped
the exhibition would cause viewers to
rethink their assumptions about graffiti.
Terrance Lindall, an artist and executive
director of the Williamsburg Art and
Historic Center, said regarding graffiti
and the exhibition:
Graffiti is
revolutionary, in my
opinion», he says, «and any
revolution might be considered a
crime. People who are oppressed or
suppressed need an outlet, so they
write on walls—it›s free.»
In Australia, art historians have judged
some local graffiti of sufficient creative
merit to rank them firmly within visual
art. Oxford University Press›s art history
text Australian Painting 2000–1788
concludes with a long discussion of
graffiti›s key place within contemporary
visual culture, including the work of
several Australian practitioners.
Between March
and April 150 ,2009
artists exhibited 300 pieces of graffiti
at the Grand Palais in Paris — a clear
acceptance of the art form into the
French art world.
Many graffiti artists have used their
design talents in other artistic endeavors.
In 2009 graffiti artist «Scape» published
«GRAFF; the Art & Technique of Graffiti»,
Decorative
and high art
the world›s first book dedicated to
displaying the full techniques of creating
graffiti art. Other books that focus
on graffiti include Faith of Graffiti by
Norman Mailer, Trespass by Taschen
press,and the comic book Concrete
Immortalz by Elite Gudz, which has a
graffiti artist as its main character.
Figurines by KAWS, featuring icons
of pop culture often with x›ed out
eyes, run in limited editions and sell for
thousands of dollars. World-renowned
street artist Banksy directed the film Exit
Through the Gift Shop, which explored
street art and commercialism, in 2010.

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After Egypt›s ruling military sealed off
streets around Cairo›s Tahrir Square
with walls of imposing concrete blocks,
a group of artists decided to reopen the
avenues on their own — in the public
imagination, at least.
On one of the walls, they painted an
exact trompe-l›oeil reproduction of
the street behind it, as if it were open.
The perspective painting matches
up with the architecture of the
neighboring buildings and even has
some «pedestrians» strolling along the
boulevard. The street›s new name is
«No Walls Street.»
The graffiti piece is the work of the
Revolution Artists Association, a group
of young Egyptian artists who say
the uprising against authorities in the
country continues a year after the fall of
President Hosni Mubarak.
They have covered walls around
Tahrir Square, the epicenter of the
anti-Mubarak uprising, with graffiti art,
including portraits of protesters killed by
security forces or the military.
Other graffiti pieces campaign for the
rights of women or against humiliating
«virginity tests» that soldiers conducted
on detained female protesters. Others
denounce military rule.
In recent days, protesters have taken
to the streets to denounce Islamists›
domination of an assembly created to
write the next constitution and to protest
authorities› slowness in prosecuting
those accused in dozens of deaths
during a soccer riot earlier this year.
“Since the start of the Arab uprisings the
Middle East has seen an unparalleled
explosion of graffiti. Many slogans which
were later sung by the people on the
streets first appeared on walls from
Tunisia to Bahrain. Egypt has played
a remarkable role in this phenomenon.
Even when the army tanks rolled onto
Egypt artists
«reopen»
by graffiti protest
Tahrir Square in Cairo, they were
immediately adorned with graffiti. Along
with people from all walks of life, artists,
calligraphers and designers took over
the public space. In no time a vital and
now globally acclaimed street art scene
emerged.”

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Tracker databases
Graffiti databases have increased
in the past decade because they
allow vandalism incidents to be fully
documented against an offender
and help the police and prosecution
charge and prosecute offenders for
multiple counts of vandalism. They also
provide law enforcement the ability
to rapidly search for an offender’s
moniker or tag in a simple, effective
and comprehensive way. These
systems can also help track costs
of damage to city to help allocate an
anti graffiti budget. The theory is that
when an offender is caught putting
up graffiti, they are not just charged
with one count of vandalism; they
can be held accountable for all of
the other damage for which they are
responsible. This has two main benefits
for law enforcement. One, it sends
a signal to the offenders that their
vandalism is being tracked. Two, a city
can seek restitution from offenders
for all of the damage that they have
committed, not merely a single incident.
These systems give
law enforcement
personnel real-time,
street-level intelligence that allows them
to not only focuses on the worst graffiti
offenders and their damage, but also to
monitor potential gang violence that is
associated with the graffiti.
Gang injunctions
Many restrictions of civil gang injunctions
are designed to help address and
protect the physical environment and
limit graffiti. Provisions of gang injunctions
include things such as restricting the
possession of marker pens, spray paint
cans, or other sharp objects capable
of defacing private or public property;
spray painting, or marking with marker
pens, scratching, applying stickers or
Government
responses
otherwise applying graffiti on any public
or private property, including but not
limited to the street, alley, residences,
block walls and fences, vehicles and/
or any other real or personal property.
Some injunctions contain wording that
restricts damaging or vandalizing the
property of another, both public and
private property, including but limited to
any vehicle, light fixture, door, fence,
wall, gate, window, building, street sign,
utility box, telephone box, trees, or
power pole.

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To help address many of these issues,
many local jurisdictions have set up
graffiti abatement hotlines, where
citizens can call in and report vandalism
and have it removed. San Diego’s
hotline receives over 5000 calls per
year, in addition to reporting the graffiti,
callers can learn more about prevention.
One of the complaints about these
hotlines is the response time, there is
often a lag time between a property
owner calling about the graffiti and
the actual removal of it. The length of
delay should be a consideration for
any jurisdiction planning on operating a
hotline. Local jurisdictions must convince
the callers that their complaint of
vandalism will be a priority and cleaned
off right away. If the jurisdiction does
not have the resources to respond
to complaints in a timely manner, the
value of the hotline diminishes. Crews
must be able to respond to individual
service calls made to the graffiti hotline
as well as focus on cleanup near
schools, parks and major intersections
and transit routes to have the biggest
impact. Some cities offer a reward for
information leading to the arrest and
prosecution of suspects for tagging or
graffiti related vandalism. The amount of
the reward is based on the information
provided and the action taken
When the police use search warrants
in connection with a vandalism
investigation they are often seeking
judicial approval to look for items
such as cans of spray paint and
nozzles from other kinds of... aerosol
sprays, etching tools or other sharp
or pointed objects used to etch or
scratch glass and other hard surfaces,
and permanent marking pens, such
as markers or paint sticks; evidence
Hotlines
and reward
programs of membership or affiliation with any
gang or tagging crew, paraphernalia
to include any reference to “(tagger’s
name),” and any drawings, writings,
objects or graffiti depicting taggers’
names, initials, logos, monikers,
slogans, or mention of tagging crew
membership; any newspaper clippings
relating details of or referring to any
graffiti crime.
Search
warrants

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Samples of
new graffiti
in Egypt

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created a graffiti movement in Egypt. Some of the pictures I took of the graffiti in the early days of the revolution
have been published in my photo book Tahrir Square - The Heart of the Egyptian Revolution, but since the book
was published I have continued to document the street art in the new Egypt, and have thousands of graffiti pics
stored in archives.
Revolution

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Interactive event taking place at mohamed mahmoud street, Saturday 28 January 2012
A majority of the graffiti I captured in Egypt have no signature and have been created by an unknown artist, or a
group of artists. I need your help to identify the artist/s behind the work. I will publish some graffiti photos every day. If
you know the artist, when the graffiti was made, or have any other thoughts and info re. the graffiti and its meaning,
please share it with me and the readers of this page.
Revolution
Art Space

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Spray
Graffiti
March
2012 ,25

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Spray
Graffiti

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Spray
Graffiti

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Oxford Dictionaries. Retrieved -12-2011
05.Gr ant, Alison. North Devon Pottery:
The Seventeenth Century.
University of Exeter Press, 1983, pp.
2–1.»The history of graffiti». UCL —
London›s Global University. Retrieved 20
Apr. 2009.
Classical Archaeology of Greece:
Experiences of the Discipline, Michael
Shanks 1996.
«Toasting Graffiti Artists». The New York
Times. Retrieved 02-04-2010.
«Stencil+Graffiti» Thitan Mawco -2000
2010.
References
made in street NO3 -Autor: Matias
Ärje.
Subway Graffiti in New York - Craig
Castleman - 1984.
Graffiti -Sandrine Pereira - 2005.
http://www.seattlepi.com/news/article/
Egypt-artists-reopen-street-by-graffiti-
protest3443882-.php
Graffiti IN Modern times
Etymology
History
Modern style graffiti
Modern graffiti
Spread of graffiti culture
Graffiti as a memorial
Entrance into mainstream pop culture
Global developments
Middle East
Methods and production
Characteristics of common graffiti
Uses
Anonymous artists
Radical and political
As advertising
Offensive graffiti
Decorative and high art
Egypt artists «reopen» by graffiti protest
Government responses
Hotlines and reward programs
Search warrants
Samples of new graffiti in Egypt
Indix
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Copyright © 2012 by Fady El-Masry, All rights reserved. No part of this book shall be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted by any
means electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise without written permission from «Fady El-Masry», except in the case of a reviewer,
who may quote brief passages embodied in critical articles or in a review.
No patent liability is assumed with respect to the use of the information contained herein. Although every precaution has been taken in the preparation of
this book, the publisher and author assume no responsibility for errors or omissions. Neither is any liability assumed for damages resulting from the use
of the information contained herein.
Published in all world by: Fady El-Masry
Contact Info
Phone: 20127109171+
Email: fady.elmasry@hotmail.com
FB: www.fb.com/fad.adv
Library of Congress Control Number: ACK 2207902347

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Revolution Graffiti in Egypt 2012
Research by Fady El-Masry
Under supervise of Dr. Mohamed Ardash
Fady El-Masry ©
Gsm: 71 091 71 )012( 2+
e-mail: fady.elmasry@hotmail.com
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