Official Graffiti

On Regulatory Signs and Official Scribbles

"Regulation is an inescapable part of everyday life. One significant form is the taken-for-granted regulation, epitomized by ubiquitous road traffic signs, the signs displayed on buildings of public access, Entry and Exit (or In and Out), and those that have more recently invaded the private sphere with the mushrooming of that most invasive and emblematic piece of official graffiti, the prohibition circle with its diagonal slash across the circle warning, for example, No Smoking." (Hermer & Hunt, 1996, p455-456)

Although this fantastic paper by the mentioned authors delves deeply into regulatory markings of all sorts, both in the public and private spheres, this portion of the website will not concentrate on the ubiquitous traffic signs and parking regulation signs, for example. Rather, the pictures on the following page(s) will catalog those marks made by official authorities that more closely resemble marks commonly identified as (illicit) graffiti. They are presented here to illustrate the blurring of the divide between official marks and street graffiti.

Hermer & Hunt (1996): Coining the concept official graffiti...

"Our conception of 'official' graffiti suggests that such visible forms of regulation act to mark, scar, and deface public spaces. Our use of the term graffiti to denote official regulatory signs does not seek to deny the transgressive and subversive qualities of street graffiti. Indeed, we believe that our discussion of how official graffiti works serves to contextualize the subversive qualities of marginal modes of visible resistance. Hence we seek to bring official and unofficial graffiti into the same frame." (p 456)

The following images, then, frame official marks through the same lenses of scarring and defacement that most citizens use to view street graffiti. The question to ask, then, when encountering either official or unofficial graffiti is: is this mark enhancing or spoiling the aesthetic quality of the visual landscape?

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References

Hermer J. and Hunt A. (1996). Official graffiti of the everyday. Law and Society Review. Oct, v30 n3 pg455-480.