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By Manuel Izaguirre
Currently, the citizens interact with the city. When the city is in process of change, the people change with it. The city “talks” and creates communication with the people that live there. The people have a representation of the city. In this way, they build a special meaning and generate a collective image of the city. For this reason, graffiti are very important because through them the citizens can interact with the city. Youth people claim public spaces in which they can express themselves and the walls of the cities are a new communication canal. The “graffiti” have had a strong impact on the cities since 1960s. The following reportage shows the graffiti in Struga and in other Balkan cities.
The graffiti are a form of artistic expression and have different meanings. Nevertheless, this new art had been persecuted to the authorities because they consider that the graffiti make the cities dirty. On the other hand, the government legitimates the advertising campaigns that invade our cities. A lot of people in the history wanted to express their emotions and feelings in the walls. For instance, in the ancient Athens and in the Middle Ages, the “writers” used to write obscene messages in public places, as in prison cells.
The graffiti are spontaneous, fast and clandestine. They are also connected with public spheres, transgressions and protests. These are the most important characteristics. However, few people understand their meaning. The term “graffiti” makes reference to “little scratching” and it comes from the Italian “graffiare” that means “scratch”.
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