page_title: Graffiti
section_title: Offensive graffiti
hierarchical_section_title: Graffiti / Uses / Offensive graffiti
caption_attribution_description: English: Tag in Spokane, Washington. ಕನ್ನಡ: ವಾಶಿಂಗ್ಟನ್‌ನ ಸ್ಪೋಕನೆಯಲ್ಲಿ ಗ್ಯಾಂಗ್ ಚಿಹ್ನೆಗಳು. Русский: Символы преступной группировки. Штат Вашингтон. Знак криминальной группировки на дорожном знаке. Спокейн, штат Вашингтон. தமிழ்: வாசிங்டனில் உள்ள ஸ்போகேனில் குழுச்சின்னங்கள்.
context_page_description: Graffiti is writing or drawings made on a wall or other surface, usually without permission and within public view. Graffiti ranges from simple written words to elaborate wall paintings, and has existed since ancient times, with examples dating back to ancient Egypt, ancient Greece, and the Roman Empire.
  In modern times, spray paint and marker pens have become commonly used graffiti materials, and there are many different types and styles of graffiti; it is a rapidly developing art form.
  Graffiti is a controversial subject. In most countries, marking or painting property without permission is considered by property owners and civic authorities as defacement and vandalism, which is a punishable crime, citing the use of graffiti by street gangs to mark territory or to serve as an indicator of gang-related activities. Graffiti has become visualized as a growing urban "problem" for many cities in industrialized nations, spreading from the New York City subway system in the early 1970s to the rest of the United States and Europe and other world regions.
context_section_description: Graffiti may also be used as an offensive expression. This form of graffiti may be difficult to identify, 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 be understood only if one knows the relevant "local code" (social, historical, political, temporal, and spatial), which is seen as heteroglot and thus a 'unique set of conditions' in a cultural context.
  A spatial code for example, could be that there is a certain youth group in an area that is engaging heavily in racist activities. So, for residents (knowing the local code), a graffiti containing only the name or abbreviation of this gang already is 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 to come. 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.
  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.
  Elsewhere, activists in Russia have used painted caricatures of local officials with their mouths as potholes, to show their anger about the poor state of the roads. In Manchester, England a graffitists painted obscene images around potholes, which often resulted in their being repaired within 48 hours.
caption: Gang symbol markings on public property, Millwood, Washington
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