In Taiwan, graffiti art isn’t about class or race — it’s a way to rebel against mundane societal expectations.
The News Lens
Date: 2018/02/19
By: Dylan Pendray
In the late 1980s, New York-style graffiti started appearing in Taiwan, spread through works of popular culture such as the hip-hop documentary “Style Wars” (1983) and the movie “Wild Style” (1983) — but the graffiti that began appearing in Taiwan grew out of a very different social context to that of New York.
Credit: DEBE
Taiwanese graffiti isn’t about resistance
According to the 2008 academic article “Street Graffiti Culture in Taiwan,” most graffiti writers “come from middle class families, have received formal arts training and a university education. For them, graffiti is an extracurricular activity they’re engaged in; it’s absolutely not a means for them to resolve class or racial issues.”
The article continues, “They’re simply naughty youth who get carried away, like showing off their abilities, enjoy making adults angry, and who don’t want to behave in accordance with adult standards.”
If there is any shared ground between the cultures in the U.S. and Taiwan, it stems from a dissatisfaction with the urban environment and the roles artists who are obliged to play within it, particularly the implicit understanding that citizens should abide by rules and uphold social order. [FULL STORY]
