Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://www.um.edu.mt/library/oar/handle/123456789/97447
Title: It's not vandalism, it's our leisure : a multimodal study of skate park graffiti
Other Titles: Graffiti : vandalism, street art and cultural significance
Authors: Cassar, Joanne
Cremona, George
Keywords: Graffiti -- Social aspects
Graffiti -- Political aspects
Mural painting and decoration
Graffiti -- Malta
Commercial art
Popular culture
Vandalism -- Malta
Issue Date: 2018
Publisher: Nova Publishers
Citation: Cassar, J., & Cremona, G. (2018). It's not vandalism, it's our leisure : a multimodal study of skate park graffiti. In X. Paradis & M. Minda (Eds.), Graffiti: vandalism, street art and cultural significance (pp. 65-89). New York: Nova Publishers
Abstract: We present a study on graffiti art situated in a skate park in Malta to explore some of the functions the artworks serve. The skate park authorises graffiti in an attempt to create “safe spaces” for young people aimed at engaging them in creative, recreational activities they enjoy doing. Such measures could be considered part of the movement taking ground in different parts of the world that is acknowledging the legal use of graffiti to promote creativity, self-expression and community life. Data presented in the study consists of digital photographs of graffiti located in the skate park and portray themes related to human rights and young people’s agency in this regard. We employ a multimodal analysis to explore possible meanings conveyed by the graffiti artists of these images. This approach highlights shared cultural interests occurring spontaneously through images that explain young people’s concerns with a number of political and social issues that have personal significance to them. The analysis draws on graffiti art that is shaped and produced within the intersectionality of leisure and youth cultures and which reflects local and international political scenes. We posit that graffiti art in designated spaces could potentially reverse the association of graffiti with social unrest, fear, vandalism and crime and that young people’s voice, as it emerges through their art challenges inherited economic and political systems based on power practices that could be disenfranchising them.
URI: https://www.um.edu.mt/library/oar/handle/123456789/97447
Appears in Collections:Scholarly Works - FacEduLHE

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