Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Revolution is the New Black: Graffiti/Art and Mark-making Practices

  • Research
  • Published:
Archaeologies Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

In recent years there has been a strong resurgence in the production and visibility of graffiti/art in Australian cities. This paper considers what we may learn about this practice by adopting an archaeological approach to its study. The results yield interesting insights into two contemporary phenomena of graffiti/art production that offer intriguing links to Australian rock art. The study considers the significance of contemporary mark-making and explores how this practice may inform our approach to rock art research.

Résumé

Ces dernières années il y a eu une recrudescence forte dans la production de graffitis ou d’art pictural dans des villes australiennes. Cet article considère ce que nous pouvons apprendre de cette pratique en adoptant une approche archéologique de son étude. Les résultats rapportent des aperçus intéressants dans deux phénomènes contemporains de la production de graffitis et d’art pictural qui présentent des liaisons intrigantes à l’art du rock australien. L’étude considère la signification de ces projections de marque contemporaine et explore comment cela peut informer notre approche du rock et de la recherche.

Resumen

En los últimos años se ha producido un fuerte renacimiento de la producción y la visibilidad del arte del graffiti en las ciudades australianas. Este trabajo trata sobre lo que podemos aprender de esta práctica adoptando un enfoque arqueológico para su estudio. El resultado proporciona interesantes perspectivas sobre dos fenómenos contemporáneos de la producción del arte del graffiti que tiene sorprendentes vínculos con el rock australiano. El estudio plantea el significado del dibujo contemporáneo y analiza cómo podría conformar nuestro enfoque sobre investigaciones del arte del rock.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Figure 1
Figure 2
Figure 3
Figure 4
Figure 5
Figure 6
Figure 7
Figure 8

Similar content being viewed by others

References Cited

  • Abel, E., and B. Buckley 1977. The Handwriting on the Wall: Toward a Sociology and Psychology of Graffiti. Greenwood Press, Westport, CT.

    Google Scholar 

  • Adams, K. L. and Winter, A. (1997). Gang graffiti as a discourse genre. Journal of Sociolinguistics 1(3): 337–360.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Arise 2007. Stencil or Shite? Comment posted on 12-4-2007 at 11:13 AM. http://www.stealthmag.com/board/viewthread.php?tid=10189&page=2.

  • Austin, J. (2001). Taking the Train, Columbia University Press, New York.

    Google Scholar 

  • Banksy (2006). Wall and Piece, Century, London.

    Google Scholar 

  • Best, C. (2003). Reading Graffiti in the Caribbean Context. Journal of Popular Culture: 36 (4): 828-852.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Blake, C.F. (1981). Graffiti and Racial Insults: The Archaeology of Ethnic Relations in Hawaii. In Gould, R. and Schiffer, M. (eds), Modern Material Culture: The Archaeology of Us, Academic Press, New York, pp. 87-112.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bowdler, S. (1988). Repainting Australian rock art. Antiquity 62: 517-23.

    Google Scholar 

  • Butz, D., and M. Ripmeester 1999. Finding Space for Resistant Subcultures, In Visible Culture. http://www.rochester.edu/in_visible_culture/issue2/butz.htm.

  • Clegg, J. (1993). Pictures, Jargon and Theory – Our Own Ethnography and Rock Art, Records of the Australian Museum, Supplement 17, pp. 91-103.

    Google Scholar 

  • Clegg, J. (1998). Making Sense of Obscure Pictures from Our Own History: Exotic Images from Callan Park, Australia. In Chippendale, C. and Tacon, P.S.C. (eds), Archaeology of Rock-Art, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, pp. 336-45.

    Google Scholar 

  • Clegg, J. 2000. Callan Point Engravings and Landscape. In Signifying Place and Space: World Perspectives in Rock-art and Landscape, edited by G. Nash. British Archaeological Report No. 902, Oxford.

  • Cover, R. (2002). Some Cunts: Graffiti, Globalisation, Injurious Speech and ‘Owning’ Signification. Social Semiotics 12 (3): 269-90.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Crawford, I.M. (1968). The Art of the Wandjina: Aboriginal Cave Painting in Kimberley, Western Australia, Oxford University Press, Oxford.

    Google Scholar 

  • David, B. and Wilson, M. (2002). Spaces of Resistance: Graffiti and Indigenous Place Markings in the Early European Contact Period of Northern Australia. In David, B. and Wilson, M. (eds), Inscribed Landscapes, University of Hawaii Press, Honolulu, pp. 42-60.

    Google Scholar 

  • Dew, C. (2005) On Stencil Revolution. Arena Magazine 77 (Jun-Jul): 53-4.

    Google Scholar 

  • Dew, C. (2007). Uncommissioned Art: An A-Z of Australian Graffiti, The Miegunyah Press, Melbourne.

    Google Scholar 

  • Dickens, L. (2008). Placing Post-Graffiti: The Journey of the Peckham Rock. Cultural Geographies 15: 471-96.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dusty, S. 1996. Ned Kelly was a Gentleman. 91 OVER 50, EMI Australia, Sydney.

  • Ferrell, J. (1996). Crimes of Style – Urban Graffiti and the Politics of Criminality, Northeastern University, Boston.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ferrell, J. (1997) Youth, crime, and cultural space. Social Justice 24 (4): 21-38.

    Google Scholar 

  • flickr.com http://www.flickr.com/groups/wandjina/ (accessed 2008).

  • Gould, R., and M. Schiffer (editors) 1981. Modern Material Culture: The Archaeology of Us. Academic Press, New York.

    Google Scholar 

  • Grey, G. 1841. Journals of Two Expeditions of Discovery in North-West and Western Australia during the Years 1837, 38 and 39, London.

  • Hall, S. (ed.) (1975). Resistance Through Rituals, Hutchison: London.

    Google Scholar 

  • Halsey, M. and Young, A. (2006) Our Desires are Ungovernable: Writing Graffiti in Urban Space. Theoretical Criminology 10 (3): 275-306.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Harris, R. (1972) What’s Become of Ned Kelly. The Australian Album, Australia.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hartley, R. J., Vawser, A. (2002) Marking Places in the Southern Black Hills: A Preliminary Analysis. Midwest Archaeological Center, National Park Service.

    Google Scholar 

  • Haskovec, I.P. (1992) Northern Running figures of Kakadu National Park: A study of a regional style. In McDonald, J. and Haskovec, I. (eds), State of the Art: Regional rock art studies in Australia and Melanesia, Australian Rock Art Research Association, Melbourne, pp.148-58.

    Google Scholar 

  • Haviland, W. and Haviland, A. (1995) Glimpses of the Supernatural: Altered States of Consciousness and the Graffiti of Tikal, Guatemala. Latin American Antiquity 6 (4): 295-309.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Holtorf, C. (2005). From Stonehenge to Las Vegas: Archaeology and Popular Culture. AltaMira Press, Walnut Creek, CA.

    Google Scholar 

  • Jordan, G. 2003. Ned Kelly, AUS. 105 mins.

  • Leone, M. (1981). Method and Theory in Modern Material-Culture Studies. In Gould, R. and Schiffer, M. (eds), Modern Material Culture: The Archaeology of Us, Academic Press, New York, pp. 1-14.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ley, D. and Cybriwsky, R. (1974). Urban Graffiti as Territorial Markers. Annals of the Association of American Geographers 64 (4): 491-505.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lombard, K. J. 2007. To Us Writers, the Differences Are Obvious: The Adaptation of Hip Hop Graffiti to an Australian Context. M/C Journal 10(2). 06 Aug. 2007 http://journal.media-culture.org.au/0705/05-lombard.php.

  • MacDowall, L. (2006). In Praise of 70 K: Cultural Heritage and Graffiti Style. Continuum: Journal of Media & Cultural Studies 20 (4): 471-84.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Manco, T. (2002). Stencil graffiti, Thames and Hudson, London.

    Google Scholar 

  • McCormick, J. and Jarman, N. (2005). Death of a mural. Journal of Material Culture 10 (1): 49-71.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Molyneaux, B. (ed.) (1997). The Cultural Life of Images, Routledge, London.

    Google Scholar 

  • Morphy, H. (1998). Aboriginal Art, Phaidon, London.

    Google Scholar 

  • Moser, S. (1992). The visual language of archaeology: a case study of the Neanderthals. Antiquity 66: 831-44.

    Google Scholar 

  • Moser, S. (1998). Ancestral Images: The Iconography of Human Origins, Cornell University Press, Ithaca.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mountford, C.P. (1956) Records of the American-Australian Scientific Expedition to Arnhem Land 1: Art, myth and symbolism, Melbourne University Press, Melbourne.

    Google Scholar 

  • mowanjumarts http://www.mowanjumarts.com/ (accessed 2008).

  • Mulvaney,K. and Jones, J. (2002). Lightning Strikes Twice: Conflicts in Perception of Painted Images. Australian Aboriginal Studies, 2002 (1): 27-34.

    Google Scholar 

  • Neef, S. (2007). Killing Kool: The Graffiti Museum. Art History 30 (3): 418-31.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Neistat Brothers 2003. iPod’s Dirty Secret

  • Nolan, S. (1946). Kelly and Horse, Ripolin on board. The Nolan Gallery, Lanyon.

    Google Scholar 

  • O’Connor, S., A. J. Barham, and D. Woolagoodja 2008. Painting and Repainting in the West Kimberley. In Aboriginal Art and Identity, edited by L. Taylor, and P. Veth. Australian Aboriginal Studies 1:22–38.

  • O’Hare, A. 2007. Wandjina in Graffiti. http://www.abc.net.au/news/arts/articulate/200701/s1821954.htm Posted: Friday, January 5 2007.

  • Orengo, H. A. and Robinson, D.W. (2008). Contemporary Engagements Within Corridors of the Past: Temporal Elasticity, Graffiti and the Materiality of St Rock Street, Barcelona. Journal of Material Culture 13:267-87.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pilkington, G. 2006. The Wandjina Spirit From Rock to Wall. Artsource Newsletter Summer: 13–17.

  • Rafferty, P. (1991). Discourse on Difference: Street Art/Graffiti Youth. Visual Anthropology Review 7 (2): 77-84.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rahn, J. (2002). Painting Without Permission: Hip-Hop Graffiti Subculture, Bergin & Garvey, Westport, CT.

    Google Scholar 

  • Redmond, A. 2002. ‘Alien Abductions’, Kimberley Aboriginal Rock-Paintings, and the Speculation About Human Origins: On Some Investments in Cultural Tourism in the Northern Kimberley. Australian Aboriginal Studies (2):54–64.

  • Renfrew, C. (2003) Figuring it out, Thames and Hudson, London.

    Google Scholar 

  • Richardson, T. 1970. Ned Kelly, UK.

  • Rivera-Collazo, I. (2006). Historical Ship Graffiti on the Walls of San Juan’s Spanish Defence System: an Interim Report. International Journal of Nautical Archaeology 35(1):41–52.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rowntree, L.B. and Conkey, M. (1980) Symbolism and the Cultural Landscape. Annals of the Association of American Geographers 70 (4): 459-74.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sale, K. 1992. Make ‘Em Bright’: Aboriginal Re-marking of Rock Art in Past and Present Australia. Unpublished BA Honours thesis, University of Sydney, Sydney.

  • Schaefer, D. (2004) Perceptual Biases, Graffiti and Fraternity Crime: Points of Deflection that Distort Social Justice. Critical Criminology 12(2): 179-93.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Smallman, J. and Nyman, C. (2005). Stencil Graffiti Capitol: Melbourne, Mark Batty Publisher: New York.

    Google Scholar 

  • Tait, C. 1906. The Story of The Kelly Gang, AUS.

  • UMA/I/5203, Unknown Photographer 1880. Portrait of the Bushranger Ned Kelly. Melbourne University Archives, Melbourne. http://www.lib.unimelb.edu.au/collections/archives.

  • Walsh, G. L. 1992. Rock Art Retouch: Cana claim of Aboriginal Descent Establish Curation Rights Over Humanity’s Cultural Heritage. In Rock Art and Ethnography. Proceedings of the Ethnography Symposium (H), First AURA Congress, Darwin 1988, edited by M. J. Morwood, and D. R. Hobbs, pp. 46–59. Occasional AURA Publication No. 5 ARARA, Melbourne.

  • Ward, G. K. (editor) 1992. Retouch: Maintenance and Conservation of Aboriginal Rock Imagery. In Proceedings of the Symposium O – Retouch, First AURA Congress, Darwin 1988. Occasional AURA Publication No. 5 ARARA, Melbourne.

  • Watson, B. (2008). OODLES OF DOODLES? Doodling behaviour and its implications for understanding palaeoarts. Rock Art Research Rock Art Research 25 (1): 35-43.

    Google Scholar 

  • White, R. (2001). Graffiti, Crime Prevention & Cultural Space. Current Issues in Criminal Justice 12 (3): 253-68.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wise, J. Macgregor (2000). Home: Territory and identity. Cultural Studies 14(2): 295-310.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • http://www.politicalgraphics.org/home.html.

  • http://www.flickr.com/photos/amoir/300675038/in/set-72157594290834304/.

  • http://www.flickr.com/search/?q=wandjina&w=all&s=int.

  • http://www.stencilrevolution.com.

  • http://www.flickr.com/groups/stencilrevolution/.

Download references

Acknowledgements

I wish to thank Katie Hayne, Belinda Stewart, Sally Stewart and Lee Syminton for their assistance in site selection, recording and illustration. My mother, Jeanette Avins, continues to help me in understanding graffiti and I thank her for helping me with measurements. Pip Deveson, Nicholas Hall and an anonymous referee deserve special mention for their comments on an earlier draft of this paper. My gratitude to the editors for their work on this volume and in convening the 2007 Australian Archaeology Association conference session where this paper was first developed. A final thanks to all of the graffiti artists whose work I drew upon for insight and inspiration.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Research School of Humanities, Australian National University, Canberra, ACT, 0200, Australia

    Ursula K. Frederick

Authors
  1. Ursula K. Frederick
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Ursula K. Frederick.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Frederick, U.K. Revolution is the New Black: Graffiti/Art and Mark-making Practices. Arch 5, 210–237 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11759-009-9107-y

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11759-009-9107-y

Keywords

Search

Navigation