Thanks for the big response to my first post mapping Graff in my city! Wow!

If you haven't seen it... check out Part One

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Part Two

Considering how successful my previous post was showing off some of the urban art and street photography inmy town, I thought I would go gather some more for you and introduce everyone to the alley.

The person walking ahead of me in the picture is my mother. That's a Target store across the road. It's night time in Central Square, Cambridge (Massachusetts, USA.)

This is one of many alleyways that painters and artists adorn in my city. As you can see, it's still snowy here. It's actually snowing right now as I post this— yes, snowing in April.

Murals and characters are some of my favorite graff art pieces, but the root of it all really stems from tagging— Tagging is writing your name on something, or the name of your crew, set, gang, artist-name, etc. Tagging can mark territory, communicate between people who know the code, or it can just be a form of rebellion e.g. f-ck you, and your building.

Things have changed in the past 20 years though. Most artists tag or paint with permission. Some are even paid big money. Some property owners actively seek out certain artists to find them and have them paint their buildings.

This is HipHop Culture, Street Culture, even Punk Culture- amalgamated.

Sometimes I want to go back to the 80's and 90's... Granted, I don't want to bring back the crack-era, or even the War on Drugs but culturally, I wish I could rewind. People had feelings before the internet. Creativity has exploded but more and more artists have given up the master-craftsmenship of learning art without a machine. And this takes more than just great hands, but a special kind of EYE, and the ability to hold your breath for a long time. Can you swim?

Graffiti was the first urban Font Foundry.

It's not random. Color blocking, texture analysis, your spray can tips— everything has intention.

Artists practice their tags over and over like a signature so they're brand will be recognized and remembered.

Walk

New location to come!

Thank You!

I'm mapping my City and culture on #Steemitworldmap.

Note: While the photos are mine to license under CCBY40, the artwork within them ARE NOT mine. Please take appropriate steps to seek the artwork's author and get permission before using my photos in a such a way that could infringe their rights.

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Category	colourfulphotography
Camera	Samsung Galaxy S8 Dual Pixel 12MP PRO
Aperture	F1.7
Pixel size	1.4µm
Sensor size	1/2.55"
FOV	77
Bit depth	24 bit
Resolution	300 dpi
File type	Jpeg
Dimensions	1197 x 849
Location	Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA

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^{Graffiti Collection 2 by Omi Taylor is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Original work here. Additional terms here.}

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!steemitworldmap 42.364724 lat -71.102497 long d3scr

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