ABSTRACT

Graffiti culture has expanded rapidly since its inception in the 1970s, and is now an established practice. Graffiti is part of the visual culture of many societies, and constitutes the visible part that is hidden to the common pedestrian. As such, it is argued that graffiti has become part of many countries’ subcultural heritage. This article focuses on the processes of learning and identity construction of graffiti writers in Pamplona, in Spain, and considers the consequences of this for the concept of subcultural heritage. The data were collected via interviews and participant observations conducted over eight months. The findings suggest that graffiti writers’ identities are constituted via their artwork, which is influenced by emotions and praise that serves to fuel their ego. The findings also indicate that these writers tend to hide the fact that they have learned from others, claiming instead to have learned on their own. Hence, graffiti subcultural heritage is defined by ideas that writers themselves have about graffiti, and their learning of the previous heritage. The paper concludes that writers leaving their mark and receiving feedback from their community contribute to their subcultural heritage, and that these two aspects represent specific characteristics of this subculture.

摘要

自从1970年代创立以来，涂鸦文化便迅速发展，如今已成为一种惯例。涂鸦是许多社会视觉文化的一部分，并且是普通行人看不见的可见部分。因此，有人认为涂鸦已成为许多国家亚文化遗产的一部分。本文着重于西班牙潘普洛纳的涂鸦作者的学习和身份建构过程，并考虑了其对亚文化遗产概念的影响。数据是通过八个月的访谈和参与者观察收集的。研究结果表明，涂​​鸦作家的身份是通过他们的艺术品来构成的，而艺术品的情感和赞美会激发他们的自我意识。研究结果还表明，这些作家倾向于掩盖自己从他人那里学到的事实，而声称自己是从自己身上学到的。因此，涂鸦亚文化遗产的定义是作家自己对涂鸦及其对先前遗产的了解所具有的思想。本文的结论是，作家留下自己的印记并从社区中获得反馈，为他们的亚文化遗产做出了贡献，而这两个方面代表了该亚文化的特定特征。