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There was something for everyone at the Student Involvement Fair on Friday, 15 September, 2017, and judging by the signups there will be plenty of student led activities happening on campus in the weeks and months ahead. Photography by Glenn Minshall.
I don't care who's not inlove with their wife anymore!!! Don't involve me!!!!... Go back to your wife and rot together and stop involving Josephine!!!... Sounds like your an asshole!... Stay away from me!....
Yes i like Jeffrey 🌟 hello he does makeup!...
Please leave me alone you and your wife!...
Im gonna give u some words of wisdom from my Sister maria.. . My sister always says, "the wrong people have children and get married"....
Classical dancing, which involves lots of sinuous hand and body movements, each one holding significance, died out in 15th Century with the decline of the Angkor empire that built the temples.
Queen Kossomak and her daughter Princess Buppha Devi were instrumental in reviving the dance form and bringing it to the Cambodian people (it was traditionally reserved for royal performances). Only a handful of dance teachers survived the Khmer Rouge, who attempted to wipe out intellectuals and artists.
You can now see Apsara being performed in Siem Reap. The place we went also served a huge buffet meal.
Apsara dancers are selected for their fine bones and graceful limbs and are trained from an early age whilst their bones are still supple. Training means Apsara dancers have very elastic hands and can bend them back almost to the wrist.
There are many carvings of apsara dancers on the Angkorian temples - they can be distinguished by the three points on their headdresses and the sinuous poses.
Language
"Apsara" means Heavenly Dancing Woman. They are goddesses
© Susannah Relf All Rights Reserved
Unauthorized use or reproduction for any reason is prohibited
Southbury Volunteers were dispatched to a morning fire at 126 Lower Fish Rock Rd the initial dispatch was for a fire involving a wood stove. They arrived to find a 2 story wood home set below the road on a lot with a steep incline sloping down to Lake Zoar with heavy fire showing. The large smoke column from the fire was clearly visible for miles due to the still and cold morning air. As fire fighters stretched in to attack the fire mutual aid was responding from Southbury Training School FD, Oxford, Sandy Hook, Woodbury, and Bethlehem in the form of tankers, engines, and a quint to help battle the blaze which was quickly spreading through out the dwelling. Several attempts were made to get the quint up the narrow and icy road without success. A water fill station at the travel center off I-84 was manned by Woodbury Engine 4 to resupply the multiple tankers shuttling water to the supply site at the intersection of Upper and Lower Fish Rock Rds. A defensive attack was established due to the damage and heavy fire in the upper floors of the structure and the stubborn fire would burn several hours before it was brought under control. At least one fire fighter was examined by EMS after he reported feeling ill at the scene. No civilian injuries were reported and the fire marshal was on scene to start the investigation as to the cause of the fire.
See all the pictures of this incident on my website at
This is part of the sculpture made by Manchester Artist Kevin Dalton-Johnson. The sculpture shows Lancasters involvement in the "Slave Trade". This shows the acrylic sections after installation, pictured looking upwards.
This shows the acrylic deck sections after installation from a vertical angle.
Stony Brook, NY; Stony Brook University: Student Activities hosted an involvement fair for all student clubs and organizations to promote their group on the Student Activities Center Plaza.
Hot rodding often involves food. Cruises are organized so restaurants are starting points or destinations. In Southern California, drive-ins were places where rodders showed off their cars.
The Iowa State Fairgrounds, where the Goodguys shows are held, has a large number of fast food venues. This pizza-by-the-slice stand is typical. The food is high in fat and calories, but it has a very satisfying taste—great comfort food.
To see the 3-D, use red/cyan glasses.
To read the QR code in the picture, use your smart phone and a scanner app. To find out more about QR codes, go to www.fredtruck.com, choose the Articles menu item, and select the Seals option.
To find out how I make these 3-D conversions, go to www.fredtruck.com, choose the Articles menu item and choose the Chromobinocular Method option.
Designer: Karla Mokrosova
We present a new pallet of 11 intensive colors that are ideal for summer days. Do you like beautiful colors such as magenta, purple or lime or earthy tones like brown or chocolate? Juicy radiant colors will not give you any peace. Try them all!
Text NL / produktové karty:
The PRECIOSA Traditional Czech Beads™ range has an extensive color base. We now present the PRECIOSA Terra Intensive summer color collection.
This involves surface finishes in 11 shades on chalk ranging from clear yellow through to chocolate brown. You can combine these bright colors to create attractive and highly absorbing patterns.
We offer this pallet of intensive colors in 3 selected bead shapes, specifically PRECIOSA Rocailles in 3 sizes (10/0, 8/0 and 6/0) and two other types of seed beads, PRECIOSA Farfalle™ and PRECIOSA Twin™.
The colorful seed beads from the PRECIOSA Terra Intensive collection can be used in embroidery, sewing or other costume jewelry or accessories for the warm summer months. Just try them!
PRECIOSA Rocailles
Article number: 331 19 001
Sizes: 10/0, 8/0, 6/0
PRECIOSA Farfalle™
Article number: 321 90 001
Size: 3.2 x 6.5 mm
PRECIOSA Twin™ Seed Bead
Article number: 321 96 001
Size: 2.5 x 5 mm
Visit our website for more information about the PRECIOSA Terra Intensive
For the first time in its history, the Knesset celebrated Animal Rights Day. The Knesset Education Committee and Science Committee jointly debated the issue of vivisection involving monkeys at the Weizmann Institute of Science, and supervision over animal experimentation in Israel.
The debate about the animal testing at the Weizmann Institute and how to supervise vivisection in general stood at the center of the Animal Rights Day events, which took place on January 1, 2008. The debate was pursued jointly by the Knesset Education Committee and Science Committee. At mid-day, the Let the Animals Live Association held a protest by the Knesset, calling for the release of the monkeys held at the Weizmann Institute. Later Knesset members from all the factions signed a Animal Rights Declaration, and several parliamentarians addressed the Knesset plenum regarding the issues at stake. Unhappily, there was no plenary vote on important bills that would have benefited animals, because the ministerial Legislative Committee postponed its discussion of the proposals.
At the joint Education-Science Committee, Knesset member Benny Eilon (Science) and Knesset member Rabbi Michael Melchior (Education) expressed concern at the information exposed by the covert investigation conducted by Let the Animals Live about the inhumane experiments done on monkeys and cats at Weizmann. They called for re-examination of the way the law regarding supervision of animal experimentation is enforced.
Knesset members Zevulun Orlev, Dov Khenin, Yuval Hasson, Gideon Sa'ar, and Eitan Cabel proposed amending the law to change the composition of the council that oversees vivisection by adding three members of animal rights organizations, replacing the council chairman with a judge, and adding an external veterinarian to internal committees at the institutes that carry out animal experimentation.
Knesset members Arie Eldad and Jamal Zahalka opposed amendment to the law, arguing that the law is enforced properly, and that the scientists should be trusted to carry out their work appropriately and within the confines of the law. Amendment would impair academic freedom, they argued, and hold back scientific progress in Israel.
The president of Weizmann Institute, Prof. Daniel Zajfman, announced that the experiments exposed at the institute were being done in compliance with approvals and the law. He said that Weizmann Institute's experiments on animals were done at the highest standards in Israel. The chairman of the Animal Experimentation Council, said that after the experiments were exposed, the council sent a team to inspect the experiments being done at Weizmann, which concluded that the tests were being done properly.
Attorney Ruven Ladianski, general manager and legal counsel of Let the Animals Live, also spoke at the Knesset debate, saying, "An attempt is being made here by the experimenters to portray us, representatives of the organizations, as a group of lunatics that opposes saving human life, which is not the case. There is no research, be it the most important, that justifies the harsh living conditions of the monkeys – isolated, in small cages, in a dark room with no windows, in a constant state of thirst and strapped down in chairs without ability to move for hours on end."
The charged, stormy debate ended with a resolution that two subjects – supervision over animal experimentation and the experiments on monkeys at Weizmann Institute would be inspected, and discussed at a joint sub-committee of the Science and Education committees. The panel will be chaired by Benny Eilon.
After the joint Knesset Education Committee and Science Committee debate, a protest organized by Let the Animals Live took place at the Knesset, calling for the release of the monkeys held captive at Weizmann Institute. Dozens of demonstrators, including groups of students from the Open Democratic School in Jaffa, called on the Knesset members to reduce animal experimentation in general and to obtain the release of the monkeys from the Weizmann Institute in particular. Knesset member Dov Khenin (Hadash party) talked with the protestors, encouraging them and vowing to act vigorously to change the vivisection law, to reduce animal experimentation and to improve supervision.
Let the Animals Live thanks all the participants at the demonstration and all those who support the battle to rescue the monkeys from Weizmann Institute. The association calls on you to help call for action, and invites you to stay abreast of developments via the association website.
The experiments at the Weizmann Institute - www.letlive.org.il/english/article.php?id=173&PHPSESS...
A call for action - www.letlive.org.il/english/article.php?id=175
For more information about International Animal Rights Day and the Universal Declaration of Animals' Rights see: www.uncaged.co.uk/declarat.htm
Photos by www.RonSombilonGalleryPhotography.com
ABOUT ROAMING DRAGON
Roaming Dragon came to life as two lifelong friends identified a major void in Vancouver’s food scene…the absence of restaurant quality food being served via Food Trucks!
Since launching in June 2010, Roaming Dragon has earned praise for our menus, our involvement as leaders in the food truck revolution, and for elevating the food truck experience across Canada.
Roaming Dragon can be seen on the streets of Vancouver, catering the city’s most exciting events, at a Farmers Market, or participating in charity events.
We specialize in authentically unauthentic Pan-Asian deliciousness. We offer unique interpretations of dishes and flavours familiar throughout Southeast Asia.
Street Food. Catering. Events.
As crazy as it may sound, the Dragon is so much more than a truck that serves food…the Dragon has a spirit and energy of its own!
From the aesthetics of the Dragon to the delicious smells, the music to the welcoming lanterns, the amazing food to our incredible staff…the Dragon has heart and soul.
The combination of food, music, smells, and smiles from our team make the journey to the Dragon special. We’re PROUD of our team, PROUD of our food, PROUD of our suppliers, and most of all PROUD to serve our customers.
We fundamentally believe that you DESERVE the finest ingredients, prepared with care and respect, and presented in unique and delicious ways.
We’re PROUD to know where our food comes from, that it was raised ETHICALLY and NATURALLY. Our team takes PRIDE in bringing you the most INNOVATIVE Pan-Asian cuisine you’ll ever come across!
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The game involves standing in a circle, arms length apart, and passing a water balloon. After a certain number of passes you take a step back, etc.
Obviously if you throw badly or don't have soft hands you get wet.
Fire involving three storey public house. Two hydraulic platforms in use as water towers, water support unit, 12 BA. Six hose reel's and thermal image in use. Building destroyed by fire, now under going demolition.
Student Involvement Fair at Crossley Softball Field, 19 September, 2020. Photography by Glenn Minshall.
On Thursday, January 19, 2023 Ramapo College hosted the Student Involvement Fair. Ramapo College students interested in getting involved on campus attended the Student Involvement Fair. More than 100 of Ramapo’s clubs and organizations, offices, and campus resources attended.
PT&P has extensive experience involving the custom design and fabrication of hold-down pipe clamps for piping systems and skid mounted units for the power, chemical, and refineries industries throughout the world. These hold-downs are custom designed to limit vibration caused by rotating equipment and avoid damage to the surrounding piping system. They are fabricated from carbon steel with a hot-dipped galvanized coating and include PTFE slide plates to reduce the friction between the pipe and clamp, combined with fabric pads to reduce vibration dampening. The hold-downs are designed for pipelines ranging in 2” to 16” diameter. They range from 3" wide x 9-1/8" long to 8" wide x 25-3/4" long, and designed for an operating temperature of 200°F. We performed a Q.C. visual inspection prior to shipment. PT&P can custom design and fabricate hold-downs for any pipe size application. In addition to hold-downs, PT&P also offers other types of vibration control devices to accommodate different pipe orientations and locations.
Jason Sakalaskas gives an update on the Dalton Highway to stakeholders at the daily public involvement meeting.
Students got a chance to explore some of Lafayette’s organizations, clubs, and programs during the Involvement Fair on the Quad. The College boasts more than 200 opportunities for students to become involved in campus life, including academic honor societies, cultural and social organizations, community outreach, arts programs, sports clubs, and living groups. The fair is sponsored by Student Government and the Office of Student Leadership and Involvement.
Photos by Zachary Hartzell
Sept. 8, 2015
LOCATION
St Goran's Church - Gorran Churchtown - Cornwall - UK
DETAILS
The Church of St Goran is part of a wider benefice involving St Just and St Michael Caerhays, all three being part of the Diocese of Truro. For more information about this church click here: Gorran Churchtown Church
THE CHURCHES PROJECT
Around April 2015 I decided I wanted to take more Black and White photographs especially of Cornwall's granite landscapes. After a trip to the Zennor area we visited Zennor Church, it was then that I realised Cornwall's Churches and Churchyards held far more Photographic interest for me. Outside they had that gritty look ideal for Black & White photography and inside they often had some truly amazing colours in the woodwork, stonework, kneeler cushions and stained glass windows. So began The Churches Project. For full details about this project click here: The Churches Project
CORNISH HISTORIC CHURCHES TRUST
The Cornish Historic Churches Trust do great work looking after the beautiful Churches of Cornwall for future generations. Their website is here if you would like to support them: Cornish Historic Churches Trust
SPONSOR
All Photography & Equipment is sponsored by www.inlinefilters.co.uk they are UK's leading Filter Specialists serving the heavy duty Automotive Industry.
PIKTOUR
My Portfolio Website & Blog is here: www.piktour.uk
Piktour.....Cornish for Picture.....by a Photographer in Cornwall
COPYRIGHT
I take Photographs purely as a hobby these days so am happy to share them with anyone who enjoys them or has a use for them. If you do use them an accreditation would be nice and if you benefit from them financially a donation to www.sightsavers.org would be really nice.
FINE ART
My images are reduced to around 512k before uploading to Flickr and Piktour, these are in the Public Domain as mentioned above. In due course a Fine Art Prints and Downloads section will be created on Piktour. To view images that are currently available click here: www.piktour.uk/galleries/buy If the image you are interested in is not there send a request here: www.piktour.uk/contact
This set involves a quick run we made down I35 in mid November. We were running late and decided that the quickest path was required for the day. This is the first time I've had the D600 on an I35 run. We are on the I35 now and D600 is impressing me with the ability to pull scenes shot I was never able to get with the D80.
For those interested in the shot setting be sure to check out the picture info section.
Enjoy
Luminance HDR 2.3.0 tonemapping parameters:
Operator: Mantiuk08
Parameters:
Luminance Level: Auto
Color Saturation: 1
Contrast Enhancement: 1
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PreGamma: 0.64
How many pictures involving hay can I post? When the pictures are from a visit to the farm, the answer is a lot!
12 Likes on Instagram
Stony Brook, NY; Stony Brook University: Student Activities hosted an involvement fair for all student clubs and organizations to promote their group on the Student Activities Center Plaza.
WALK AGAINST CRIME will take place in Spring 2012 and will involve a sponsored walk from Lands End to John O’Groats to support a community project in Nairobi, Kenya which gets street kids off the streets and away from crime.
With a crime rate of 80% until recently, Mathare, Nairobi’s second largest slum has no work for adults, or schooling for youngsters.
With nothing to do except hang around street corners, most young people get involved in theft, drugs and prostitution, usually around the age of 13 or 14.
Murder is common and HIV/AIDS is rampant. It can be a scary place.
However, a fantastic project has been set up by local people to change all this. Its aim is to engage the youth in activities, provide work and train them to earn for themselves, rehabilitate drug users, prostitutes and criminals and encourage young people to take a full part in society.
Already, with community policing by ex-gangsters, they claim to have reduced the crime rate from 80% to just 5%.
Read more at :-
thefairtradestore.co.uk/2012/08/30/what-is-the-walk-again...
A serious road incident involving police horses has prompted a new horse road safety campaign, launched today (28 May) in Manchester city centre.
PC Wendy Townley and police horse Steele were seriously injured in the line of duty while patrolling the streets of Manchester.
A vehicle collided with Steele’s back legs. This caused him to be forced backwards onto the bonnet of the car and smashed the windscreen. Steele was then flung forwards 10 feet onto his knees; falling onto his side, while PC Townley was thrown off Steele. The incident caused significant injuries to horse and rider. Fellow police horse Crackit and his rider PC Emma Whittenbury managed to evade the impact, but were severely shaken up.
After a year of health care and training to recover from the incident, PC Townley is back on duty and Steele is on a ‘back to work’ rehabilitation programme. They are now spearheading a campaign for
Greater Manchester Police (GMP) and charity The British Horse Society (BHS) urging drivers to slow down around horses.
The launch event in central Manchester will be attended by the GMP and Lancashire uniformed mounted divisions with their police horses. Cheshire rural officers will also be in attendance.
The launch supports the BHS’s Dead Slow campaign. In the five years since the launch of the charity’s horse accidents website, over 2,000* reports of road incidents involving horses across the UK have been reported to the charity. Of these, 36 caused rider deaths, and 181 resulted in a horse dying from their injuries or being put to sleep.
In Greater Manchester alone, 28 road incidents have been reported to the charity to date, causing the death of one horse and the serious injury of a rider.
The campaign falls under GMP’s Operation Considerate, an initiative urging all road users to show others more respect on the roads. Greater Manchester Police will be hosting driver horse awareness events across the region, and is supporting the BHS Dead Slow key messaging on their horse boxes to raise awareness.
Alan Hiscox, Director for the BHS, said: “It’s fantastic to see the recovery of PC Townley and Steele, but too often road incidents can cause life changing injuries or unnecessary deaths. This has got to stop. With Greater Manchester Police’s support we aim to make the roads safer for horses and riders in the region.”
Inspector Neil Humphreys from Greater Manchester Police’s Tactical Mounted Unit said: “Thankfully our colleagues and horses made a full recovery but we know it could have been a very different story, which is why we’re delighted to support the British Horse Society with their road safety campaign.
“We all have a responsibility to make our roads safer and the aim of ‘Dead Slow’ is to encourage all road users to share the road responsibly and be considerate of each other.
“When approaching a horse, motorists should pass wide and slow to keep themselves safe as well as the rider and horse.”
For more information about Policing in Greater Manchester please visit www.gmp.police.uk
To report crime call police on 101 the national non-emergency number.
You can also call anonymously with information about crime to Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111. Crimestoppers is an independent charity who will not want your name, just your information. Your call will not be traced or recorded and you do not have to go to court or give a statement.
Students got a chance to explore some of Lafayette’s organizations, clubs, and programs during the Involvement Fair on the Quad. The College boasts more than 200 opportunities for students to become involved in campus life, including academic honor societies, cultural and social organizations, community outreach, arts programs, sports clubs, and living groups. The fair is sponsored by Student Government and the Office of Student Leadership and Involvement.
Photos by Zachary Hartzell
Sept. 8, 2015
First-runner-up to Miss California America!
Miss Santa Monica; Miss Southern Counties
Miss San Francisco; Crystal also won Preliminary Talent with her amazing Dance routine
Sunday, February 23, 2020 at the Ceramics Program, Office for the Arts at Harvard:
Kyle Johns' playful works involve the precision found in high quality mold making and slip casting, while embracing the spontaneity of a keyless mold system. Unlike the repetition of industry’s use of slip casting, Kyle's molds are interchangeable allowing for each piece to be one of a kind. His technique of applying colored slip to plaster molds then binding them together for casting larger objects is a performance in itself. Participants will be encouraged to try their hand at layering colored casting slip onto plaster bats. This workshop is one in a series of three sessions in February with Ceramics Program 2019-20 Artists In Residence.
Artist Bio: Kyle Johns found his passion for working with clay at Oakton Community College. Kyle then transferred to Southern Illinois University Edwardsville (SIUE) where he began studying under Paul Dresang and Matt Wilt. Following undergraduate, Kyle received his Master of Fine Arts degree from Ohio University, studying with Brad Schwieger, Tom Bartel, Alex Hibbitt, and Chuck Mcweeny. While at Ohio University, Kyle participated in a six week residency at The International Ceramics Center in Kecskemet, Hungary. Kyle also was a studio assistant at Arrowmont School for the Arts and Crafts, returning several times as a workshop assistant. Kyle has been a resident at both Red Lodge Clay Center and the Archie Bray Foundation.
On September 5, 2018, the Student Involvement Fair and the Global Opportunities Fair showcased different clubs, Greek Life and international experiences that students could participate in while at Ramapo College. Representatives from more than 100 clubs and organizations were in attendance.
On September 5, 2018, the Student Involvement Fair and the Global Opportunities Fair showcased different clubs, Greek Life and international experiences that students could participate in while at Ramapo College. Representatives from more than 100 clubs and organizations were in attendance.
The minibus does a double-run off Sawyers Hill to serve Sheen Gate; this involves leaving the Park briefly and making a circuit of Fife Road, Parkgate Avenue, Clare Lawn Avenue and Sheen Lane to turn round. The bus is turning from Fife Road into Parkgate Road - there are no stops in these roads. Although there is a car park and toilets at Sheen Gate is is debatable whether the diversion is worth it; as Sheen Gate is the least-used stop on the route and the driver reckoned he had picked up no more than fifteen people there in the first three years of operation! Sheen Gate is relatively unknown as an entry point to the Park, the Sheen Lane bus stops on Upper Richmond Road West (routes 33, 337, 493) are some distance away as is Mortlake Station, and the well-heeled residents of the houses close to the Park seem to have no need of a minibus link.
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This is the fourth year of the Richmond Park minibus, a free accessible minibus services that runs around the Royal Park once a week on Wednesdays from April to October, and is designed to give access to the park for people who do not have use of a car. For three years it was funded by the National Lottery but in 2019 two private individuals have made donations to keep the service running.
The minibus is provided by Richmond and Kingston Accessible Transport (RAKAT) and is driven by regular volunteer drivers. Buses depart Roehampton Danebury Avenue (the other side of the barrier from the terminus for routes 170 and 430) at 09.40, 10.52, 12.04, 13.45 and 14.57; there is a break at Danebury Avenue between 13.16-13.45 and the last journey finishes there at 16.10, otherwise the route is circular. The minibus also links up with buses 65 and 371 in Ham and has stops close to gates which also have other bus routes nearby.
www.royalparks.org.uk/parks/richmond-park/visitor-informa...
About 75 protesters marched Thursday afternoon from President Barack Obama’s re-election headquarters to three consulates of countries that belong to NATO, protesting the alliance’s involvement in the war in Afghanistan and other military action.
As the demonstration began about noon, protesters lined up on a sidewalk near 130 E. Randolph Street as about a dozen Chicago police officers cordoned off Prudential Plaza by standing behind their bicycles.
Tighe Barry stood in the middle of that line, holding two yard sticks connected to a cardboard model of a drone to protest drone strikes by the United States, which he said have killed hundreds of innocent people.
“Barack Obama, a Nobel Peace Prize-winning president, needs to come clean,” said Barry, from Washington, D.C. “He’s not for peace or for ending these outdated wars.”
The protesters then staged what they called a “die-in,” in which Barry made explosion noises and pretended to kill about a dozen of the demonstrators with his model drone, as he shouted: “Who are these people? They look like they’re doing something bad from 3,000 feet. Whoops, killed some innocent people. Oh well!”
As the 12 protesters lay on the ground, others drew outlines of their bodies on the sidewalk with pink chalk. Most of the protesters belonged to Code Pink, which describes itself as a “women-initiated grassroots peace and social justice movement.”
One of those women was Ann Wright, a former U.S. Army colonel, who said she left the military in protest of the Iraq war.
“We are representing the 99 percent, the people in the United States who believe violence is not a way to protect the world,” Wright shouted into a megaphone. “In the past 10 years, NATO has killed thousands of Afghans in the U.S.-sponsored war in Afghanistan.”
“As Afghans, we are in contact with people in Afghanistan, and they do not want this war. They have had enough,” said Samira Sayed-Rahman, a member of Afghans for Peace. “Thousands upon thousands of Afghans have been slaughtered in a war that is not benefitting the United States at all.”
After the march had ended outside of the German consulate, the protesters gathered for a group photo before listening to an impromptu speech from Tobias Pflueger, a former member of the European parliament from Germany.
“I am happy you are here demonstrating against the war organization NATO,” Pflueger said. “When NATO does wars they kill people and they also kill democracies. We will not allow NATO to kill democracy.”
Pflueger then used a megaphone as he translated a speech from Inge Hoger, a member of the German parliament who first greeted protesters in English by shouting, “I say no to NATO and no to war all over the world!”
“The money that is being spent on this occupation in Afghanistan should be spent on a peaceful solution in Afghanistan,” Pflueger said, translating for Hoger. “Because NATO is a war organization, Germany should pull out of NATO, and NATO should be disbanded.”
Medea Benjamin, a founder of Code Pink, said that she believes in “civil disobedience arrests” such as the eight that took place earlier this week with a Catholic protest group at the Obama headquarters, but said it was her group’s intent Thursday not to engage police.
“We really wanted it to be peaceful, because we wanted to represent what we want in the world, which is non-violence and peace,” Benjamin said. “We didn’t want any confrontations. The police have been great.”
Graffiti (plural; singular graffiti or graffito, the latter rarely used except in archeology) is art that is written, painted or drawn on a wall or other surface, usually without permission and within public view. Graffiti ranges from simple written words to elaborate wall paintings, and has existed since ancient times, with examples dating back to ancient Egypt, ancient Greece, and the Roman Empire (see also mural).
Graffiti is a controversial subject. In most countries, marking or painting property without permission is considered by property owners and civic authorities as defacement and vandalism, which is a punishable crime, citing the use of graffiti by street gangs to mark territory or to serve as an indicator of gang-related activities. Graffiti has become visualized as a growing urban "problem" for many cities in industrialized nations, spreading from the New York City subway system and Philadelphia in the early 1970s to the rest of the United States and Europe and other world regions
"Graffiti" (usually both singular and plural) and the rare singular form "graffito" are from the Italian word graffiato ("scratched"). The term "graffiti" is used in art history for works of art produced by scratching a design into a surface. A related term is "sgraffito", which involves scratching through one layer of pigment to reveal another beneath it. This technique was primarily used by potters who would glaze their wares and then scratch a design into them. In ancient times graffiti were carved on walls with a sharp object, although sometimes chalk or coal were used. The word originates from Greek γράφειν—graphein—meaning "to write".
The term graffiti originally referred to the inscriptions, figure drawings, and such, found on the walls of ancient sepulchres or ruins, as in the Catacombs of Rome or at Pompeii. Historically, these writings were not considered vanadlism, which today is considered part of the definition of graffiti.
The only known source of the Safaitic language, an ancient form of Arabic, is from graffiti: inscriptions scratched on to the surface of rocks and boulders in the predominantly basalt desert of southern Syria, eastern Jordan and northern Saudi Arabia. Safaitic dates from the first century BC to the fourth century AD.
Some of the oldest cave paintings in the world are 40,000 year old ones found in Australia. The oldest written graffiti was found in ancient Rome around 2500 years ago. Most graffiti from the time was boasts about sexual experiences Graffiti in Ancient Rome was a form of communication, and was not considered vandalism.
Ancient tourists visiting the 5th-century citadel at Sigiriya in Sri Lanka write their names and commentary over the "mirror wall", adding up to over 1800 individual graffiti produced there between the 6th and 18th centuries. Most of the graffiti refer to the frescoes of semi-nude females found there. One reads:
Wet with cool dew drops
fragrant with perfume from the flowers
came the gentle breeze
jasmine and water lily
dance in the spring sunshine
side-long glances
of the golden-hued ladies
stab into my thoughts
heaven itself cannot take my mind
as it has been captivated by one lass
among the five hundred I have seen here.
Among the ancient political graffiti examples were Arab satirist poems. Yazid al-Himyari, an Umayyad Arab and Persian poet, was most known for writing his political poetry on the walls between Sajistan and Basra, manifesting a strong hatred towards the Umayyad regime and its walis, and people used to read and circulate them very widely.
Graffiti, known as Tacherons, were frequently scratched on Romanesque Scandinavian church walls. When Renaissance artists such as Pinturicchio, Raphael, Michelangelo, Ghirlandaio, or Filippino Lippi descended into the ruins of Nero's Domus Aurea, they carved or painted their names and returned to initiate the grottesche style of decoration.
There are also examples of graffiti occurring in American history, such as Independence Rock, a national landmark along the Oregon Trail.
Later, French soldiers carved their names on monuments during the Napoleonic campaign of Egypt in the 1790s. Lord Byron's survives on one of the columns of the Temple of Poseidon at Cape Sounion in Attica, Greece.
The oldest known example of graffiti "monikers" found on traincars created by hobos and railworkers since the late 1800s. The Bozo Texino monikers were documented by filmmaker Bill Daniel in his 2005 film, Who is Bozo Texino?.
In World War II, an inscription on a wall at the fortress of Verdun was seen as an illustration of the US response twice in a generation to the wrongs of the Old World:
During World War II and for decades after, the phrase "Kilroy was here" with an accompanying illustration was widespread throughout the world, due to its use by American troops and ultimately filtering into American popular culture. Shortly after the death of Charlie Parker (nicknamed "Yardbird" or "Bird"), graffiti began appearing around New York with the words "Bird Lives".
Modern graffiti art has its origins with young people in 1960s and 70s in New York City and Philadelphia. Tags were the first form of stylised contemporary graffiti. Eventually, throw-ups and pieces evolved with the desire to create larger art. Writers used spray paint and other kind of materials to leave tags or to create images on the sides subway trains. and eventually moved into the city after the NYC metro began to buy new trains and paint over graffiti.
While the art had many advocates and appreciators—including the cultural critic Norman Mailer—others, including New York City mayor Ed Koch, considered it to be defacement of public property, and saw it as a form of public blight. The ‘taggers’ called what they did ‘writing’—though an important 1974 essay by Mailer referred to it using the term ‘graffiti.’
Contemporary graffiti style has been heavily influenced by hip hop culture and the myriad international styles derived from Philadelphia and New York City Subway graffiti; however, there are many other traditions of notable graffiti in the twentieth century. Graffiti have long appeared on building walls, in latrines, railroad boxcars, subways, and bridges.
An early graffito outside of New York or Philadelphia was the inscription in London reading "Clapton is God" in reference to the guitarist Eric Clapton. Creating the cult of the guitar hero, the phrase was spray-painted by an admirer on a wall in an Islington, north London in the autumn of 1967. The graffito was captured in a photograph, in which a dog is urinating on the wall.
Films like Style Wars in the 80s depicting famous writers such as Skeme, Dondi, MinOne, and ZEPHYR reinforced graffiti's role within New York's emerging hip-hop culture. Although many officers of the New York City Police Department found this film to be controversial, Style Wars is still recognized as the most prolific film representation of what was going on within the young hip hop culture of the early 1980s. Fab 5 Freddy and Futura 2000 took hip hop graffiti to Paris and London as part of the New York City Rap Tour in 1983
Commercialization and entrance into mainstream pop culture
Main article: Commercial graffiti
With the popularity and legitimization of graffiti has come a level of commercialization. In 2001, computer giant IBM launched an advertising campaign in Chicago and San Francisco which involved people spray painting on sidewalks a peace symbol, a heart, and a penguin (Linux mascot), to represent "Peace, Love, and Linux." IBM paid Chicago and San Francisco collectively US$120,000 for punitive damages and clean-up costs.
In 2005, a similar ad campaign was launched by Sony and executed by its advertising agency in New York, Chicago, Atlanta, Philadelphia, Los Angeles, and Miami, to market its handheld PSP gaming system. In this campaign, taking notice of the legal problems of the IBM campaign, Sony paid building owners for the rights to paint on their buildings "a collection of dizzy-eyed urban kids playing with the PSP as if it were a skateboard, a paddle, or a rocking horse".
Tristan Manco wrote that Brazil "boasts a unique and particularly rich, graffiti scene ... [earning] it an international reputation as the place to go for artistic inspiration". Graffiti "flourishes in every conceivable space in Brazil's cities". Artistic parallels "are often drawn between the energy of São Paulo today and 1970s New York". The "sprawling metropolis", of São Paulo has "become the new shrine to graffiti"; Manco alludes to "poverty and unemployment ... [and] the epic struggles and conditions of the country's marginalised peoples", and to "Brazil's chronic poverty", as the main engines that "have fuelled a vibrant graffiti culture". In world terms, Brazil has "one of the most uneven distributions of income. Laws and taxes change frequently". Such factors, Manco argues, contribute to a very fluid society, riven with those economic divisions and social tensions that underpin and feed the "folkloric vandalism and an urban sport for the disenfranchised", that is South American graffiti art.
Prominent Brazilian writers include Os Gêmeos, Boleta, Nunca, Nina, Speto, Tikka, and T.Freak. Their artistic success and involvement in commercial design ventures has highlighted divisions within the Brazilian graffiti community between adherents of the cruder transgressive form of pichação and the more conventionally artistic values of the practitioners of grafite.
Graffiti in the Middle East has emerged slowly, with taggers operating in Egypt, Lebanon, the Gulf countries like Bahrain or the United Arab Emirates, Israel, and in Iran. The major Iranian newspaper Hamshahri has published two articles on illegal writers in the city with photographic coverage of Iranian artist A1one's works on Tehran walls. Tokyo-based design magazine, PingMag, has interviewed A1one and featured photographs of his work. The Israeli West Bank barrier has become a site for graffiti, reminiscent in this sense of the Berlin Wall. Many writers in Israel come from other places around the globe, such as JUIF from Los Angeles and DEVIONE from London. The religious reference "נ נח נחמ נחמן מאומן" ("Na Nach Nachma Nachman Meuman") is commonly seen in graffiti around Israel.
Graffiti has played an important role within the street art scene in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA), especially following the events of the Arab Spring of 2011 or the Sudanese Revolution of 2018/19. Graffiti is a tool of expression in the context of conflict in the region, allowing people to raise their voices politically and socially. Famous street artist Banksy has had an important effect in the street art scene in the MENA area, especially in Palestine where some of his works are located in the West Bank barrier and Bethlehem.
There are also a large number of graffiti influences in Southeast Asian countries that mostly come from modern Western culture, such as Malaysia, where graffiti have long been a common sight in Malaysia's capital city, Kuala Lumpur. Since 2010, the country has begun hosting a street festival to encourage all generations and people from all walks of life to enjoy and encourage Malaysian street culture.
The modern-day graffitists can be found with an arsenal of various materials that allow for a successful production of a piece. This includes such techniques as scribing. However, spray paint in aerosol cans is the number one medium for graffiti. From this commodity comes different styles, technique, and abilities to form master works of graffiti. Spray paint can be found at hardware and art stores and comes in virtually every color.
Stencil graffiti is created by cutting out shapes and designs in a stiff material (such as cardboard or subject folders) to form an overall design or image. The stencil is then placed on the "canvas" gently and with quick, easy strokes of the aerosol can, the image begins to appear on the intended surface.
Some of the first examples were created in 1981 by artists Blek le Rat in Paris, in 1982 by Jef Aerosol in Tours (France); by 1985 stencils had appeared in other cities including New York City, Sydney, and Melbourne, where they were documented by American photographer Charles Gatewood and Australian photographer Rennie Ellis
Tagging is the practice of someone spray-painting "their name, initial or logo onto a public surface" in a handstyle unique to the writer. Tags were the first form of modern graffiti.
Modern graffiti art often incorporates additional arts and technologies. For example, Graffiti Research Lab has encouraged the use of projected images and magnetic light-emitting diodes (throwies) as new media for graffitists. yarnbombing is another recent form of graffiti. Yarnbombers occasionally target previous graffiti for modification, which had been avoided among the majority of graffitists.
Theories on the use of graffiti by avant-garde artists have a history dating back at least to the Asger Jorn, who in 1962 painting declared in a graffiti-like gesture "the avant-garde won't give up"
Many contemporary analysts and even art critics have begun to see artistic value in some graffiti and to recognize it as a form of public art. According to many art researchers, particularly in the Netherlands and in Los Angeles, that type of public art is, in fact an effective tool of social emancipation or, in the achievement of a political goal
In times of conflict, such murals have offered a means of communication and self-expression for members of these socially, ethnically, or racially divided communities, and have proven themselves as effective tools in establishing dialog and thus, of addressing cleavages in the long run. The Berlin Wall was also extensively covered by graffiti reflecting social pressures relating to the oppressive Soviet rule over the GDR.
Many artists involved with graffiti are also concerned with the similar activity of stenciling. Essentially, this entails stenciling a print of one or more colors using spray-paint. Recognized while exhibiting and publishing several of her coloured stencils and paintings portraying the Sri Lankan Civil War and urban Britain in the early 2000s, graffitists Mathangi Arulpragasam, aka M.I.A., has also become known for integrating her imagery of political violence into her music videos for singles "Galang" and "Bucky Done Gun", and her cover art. Stickers of her artwork also often appear around places such as London in Brick Lane, stuck to lamp posts and street signs, she having become a muse for other graffitists and painters worldwide in cities including Seville.
Graffitist believes that art should be on display for everyone in the public eye or in plain sight, not hidden away in a museum or a gallery. Art should color the streets, not the inside of some building. Graffiti is a form of art that cannot be owned or bought. It does not last forever, it is temporary, yet one of a kind. It is a form of self promotion for the artist that can be displayed anywhere form sidewalks, roofs, subways, building wall, etc. Art to them is for everyone and should be showed to everyone for free.
Graffiti is a way of communicating and a way of expressing what one feels in the moment. It is both art and a functional thing that can warn people of something or inform people of something. However, graffiti is to some people a form of art, but to some a form of vandalism. And many graffitists choose to protect their identities and remain anonymous or to hinder prosecution.
With the commercialization of graffiti (and hip hop in general), in most cases, even with legally painted "graffiti" art, graffitists tend to choose anonymity. This may be attributed to various reasons or a combination of reasons. Graffiti still remains the one of four hip hop elements that is not considered "performance art" despite the image of the "singing and dancing star" that sells hip hop culture to the mainstream. Being a graphic form of art, it might also be said that many graffitists still fall in the category of the introverted archetypal artist.
Banksy is one of the world's most notorious and popular street artists who continues to remain faceless in today's society. He is known for his political, anti-war stencil art mainly in Bristol, England, but his work may be seen anywhere from Los Angeles to Palestine. In the UK, Banksy is the most recognizable icon for this cultural artistic movement and keeps his identity a secret to avoid arrest. Much of Banksy's artwork may be seen around the streets of London and surrounding suburbs, although he has painted pictures throughout the world, including the Middle East, where he has painted on Israel's controversial West Bank barrier with satirical images of life on the other side. One depicted a hole in the wall with an idyllic beach, while another shows a mountain landscape on the other side. A number of exhibitions also have taken place since 2000, and recent works of art have fetched vast sums of money. Banksy's art is a prime example of the classic controversy: vandalism vs. art. Art supporters endorse his work distributed in urban areas as pieces of art and some councils, such as Bristol and Islington, have officially protected them, while officials of other areas have deemed his work to be vandalism and have removed it.
Pixnit is another artist who chooses to keep her identity from the general public. Her work focuses on beauty and design aspects of graffiti as opposed to Banksy's anti-government shock value. Her paintings are often of flower designs above shops and stores in her local urban area of Cambridge, Massachusetts. Some store owners endorse her work and encourage others to do similar work as well. "One of the pieces was left up above Steve's Kitchen, because it looks pretty awesome"- Erin Scott, the manager of New England Comics in Allston, Massachusetts.
Graffiti artists may become offended if photographs of their art are published in a commercial context without their permission. In March 2020, the Finnish graffiti artist Psyke expressed his displeasure at the newspaper Ilta-Sanomat publishing a photograph of a Peugeot 208 in an article about new cars, with his graffiti prominently shown on the background. The artist claims he does not want his art being used in commercial context, not even if he were to receive compensation.
Territorial graffiti marks urban neighborhoods with tags and logos to differentiate certain groups from others. These images are meant to show outsiders a stern look at whose turf is whose. The subject matter of gang-related graffiti consists of cryptic symbols and initials strictly fashioned with unique calligraphies. Gang members use graffiti to designate membership throughout the gang, to differentiate rivals and associates and, most commonly, to mark borders which are both territorial and ideological.
Graffiti has been used as a means of advertising both legally and illegally. Bronx-based TATS CRU has made a name for themselves doing legal advertising campaigns for companies such as Coca-Cola, McDonald's, Toyota, and MTV. In the UK, Covent Garden's Boxfresh used stencil images of a Zapatista revolutionary in the hopes that cross referencing would promote their store.
Smirnoff hired artists to use reverse graffiti (the use of high pressure hoses to clean dirty surfaces to leave a clean image in the surrounding dirt) to increase awareness of their product.
Graffiti often has a reputation as part of a subculture that rebels against authority, although the considerations of the practitioners often diverge and can relate to a wide range of attitudes. It can express a political practice and can form just one tool in an array of resistance techniques. One early example includes the anarcho-punk band Crass, who conducted a campaign of stenciling anti-war, anarchist, feminist, and anti-consumerist messages throughout the London Underground system during the late 1970s and early 1980s. In Amsterdam graffiti was a major part of the punk scene. The city was covered with names such as "De Zoot", "Vendex", and "Dr Rat". To document the graffiti a punk magazine was started that was called Gallery Anus. So when hip hop came to Europe in the early 1980s there was already a vibrant graffiti culture.
The student protests and general strike of May 1968 saw Paris bedecked in revolutionary, anarchistic, and situationist slogans such as L'ennui est contre-révolutionnaire ("Boredom is counterrevolutionary") and Lisez moins, vivez plus ("Read less, live more"). While not exhaustive, the graffiti gave a sense of the 'millenarian' and rebellious spirit, tempered with a good deal of verbal wit, of the strikers.
I think graffiti writing is a way of defining what our generation is like. Excuse the French, we're not a bunch of p---- artists. Traditionally artists have been considered soft and mellow people, a little bit kooky. Maybe we're a little bit more like pirates that way. We defend our territory, whatever space we steal to paint on, we defend it fiercely.
The developments of graffiti art which took place in art galleries and colleges as well as "on the street" or "underground", contributed to the resurfacing in the 1990s of a far more overtly politicized art form in the subvertising, culture jamming, or tactical media movements. These movements or styles tend to classify the artists by their relationship to their social and economic contexts, since, in most countries, graffiti art remains illegal in many forms except when using non-permanent paint. Since the 1990s with the rise of Street Art, a growing number of artists are switching to non-permanent paints and non-traditional forms of painting.
Contemporary practitioners, accordingly, have varied and often conflicting practices. Some individuals, such as Alexander Brener, have used the medium to politicize other art forms, and have used the prison sentences enforced on them as a means of further protest. The practices of anonymous groups and individuals also vary widely, and practitioners by no means always agree with each other's practices. For example, the anti-capitalist art group the Space Hijackers did a piece in 2004 about the contradiction between the capitalistic elements of Banksy and his use of political imagery.
Berlin human rights activist Irmela Mensah-Schramm has received global media attention and numerous awards for her 35-year campaign of effacing neo-Nazi and other right-wing extremist graffiti throughout Germany, often by altering hate speech in humorous ways.
In Serbian capital, Belgrade, the graffiti depicting a uniformed former general of Serb army and war criminal, convicted at ICTY for war crimes and crimes against humanity, including genocide and ethnic cleansing in Bosnian War, Ratko Mladić, appeared in a military salute alongside the words "General, thank to your mother". Aleks Eror, Berlin-based journalist, explains how "veneration of historical and wartime figures" through street art is not a new phenomenon in the region of former Yugoslavia, and that "in most cases is firmly focused on the future, rather than retelling the past". Eror is not only analyst pointing to danger of such an expressions for the region's future. In a long expose on the subject of Bosnian genocide denial, at Balkan Diskurs magazine and multimedia platform website, Kristina Gadže and Taylor Whitsell referred to these experiences as a young generations' "cultural heritage", in which young are being exposed to celebration and affirmation of war-criminals as part of their "formal education" and "inheritance".
There are numerous examples of genocide denial through celebration and affirmation of war criminals throughout the region of Western Balkans inhabited by Serbs using this form of artistic expression. Several more of these graffiti are found in Serbian capital, and many more across Serbia and Bosnian and Herzegovinian administrative entity, Republika Srpska, which is the ethnic Serbian majority enclave. Critics point that Serbia as a state, is willing to defend the mural of convicted war criminal, and have no intention to react on cases of genocide denial, noting that Interior Minister of Serbia, Aleksandar Vulin decision to ban any gathering with an intent to remove the mural, with the deployment of riot police, sends the message of "tacit endorsement". Consequently, on 9 November 2021, Serbian heavy police in riot gear, with graffiti creators and their supporters, blocked the access to the mural to prevent human rights groups and other activists to paint over it and mark the International Day Against Fascism and Antisemitism in that way, and even arrested two civic activist for throwing eggs at the graffiti.
Graffiti may also be used as an offensive expression. This form of graffiti may be difficult to identify, as it is mostly removed by the local authority (as councils which have adopted strategies of criminalization also strive to remove graffiti quickly). Therefore, existing racist graffiti is mostly more subtle and at first sight, not easily recognized as "racist". It can then be understood only if one knows the relevant "local code" (social, historical, political, temporal, and spatial), which is seen as heteroglot and thus a 'unique set of conditions' in a cultural context.
A spatial code for example, could be that there is a certain youth group in an area that is engaging heavily in racist activities. So, for residents (knowing the local code), a graffiti containing only the name or abbreviation of this gang already is a racist expression, reminding the offended people of their gang activities. Also a graffiti is in most cases, the herald of more serious criminal activity to come. A person who does not know these gang activities would not be able to recognize the meaning of this graffiti. Also if a tag of this youth group or gang is placed on a building occupied by asylum seekers, for example, its racist character is even stronger.
By making the graffiti less explicit (as adapted to social and legal constraints), these drawings are less likely to be removed, but do not lose their threatening and offensive character.
Elsewhere, activists in Russia have used painted caricatures of local officials with their mouths as potholes, to show their anger about the poor state of the roads. In Manchester, England, a graffitists painted obscene images around potholes, which often resulted in them being repaired within 48 hours.
In the early 1980s, the first art galleries to show graffitists to the public were Fashion Moda in the Bronx, Now Gallery and Fun Gallery, both in the East Village, Manhattan.
A 2006 exhibition at the Brooklyn Museum displayed graffiti as an art form that began in New York's outer boroughs and reached great heights in the early 1980s with the work of Crash, Lee, Daze, Keith Haring, and Jean-Michel Basquiat. It displayed 22 works by New York graffitists, including Crash, Daze, and Lady Pink. In an article about the exhibition in the magazine Time Out, curator Charlotta Kotik said that she hoped the exhibition would cause viewers to rethink their assumptions about graffiti.
From the 1970s onwards, Burhan Doğançay photographed urban walls all over the world; these he then archived for use as sources of inspiration for his painterly works. The project today known as "Walls of the World" grew beyond even his own expectations and comprises about 30,000 individual images. It spans a period of 40 years across five continents and 114 countries. In 1982, photographs from this project comprised a one-man exhibition titled "Les murs murmurent, ils crient, ils chantent ..." (The walls whisper, shout and sing ...) at the Centre Georges Pompidou in Paris.
In Australia, art historians have judged some local graffiti of sufficient creative merit to rank them firmly within the arts. Oxford University Press's art history text Australian Painting 1788–2000 concludes with a long discussion of graffiti's key place within contemporary visual culture, including the work of several Australian practitioners.
Between March and April 2009, 150 artists exhibited 300 pieces of graffiti at the Grand Palais in Paris.
Spray paint has many negative environmental effects. The paint contains toxic chemicals, and the can uses volatile hydrocarbon gases to spray the paint onto a surface.
Volatile organic compound (VOC) leads to ground level ozone formation and most of graffiti related emissions are VOCs. A 2010 paper estimates 4,862 tons of VOCs were released in the United States in activities related to graffiti.
In China, Mao Zedong in the 1920s used revolutionary slogans and paintings in public places to galvanize the country's communist movement.
Based on different national conditions, many people believe that China's attitude towards Graffiti is fierce, but in fact, according to Lance Crayon in his film Spray Paint Beijing: Graffiti in the Capital of China, Graffiti is generally accepted in Beijing, with artists not seeing much police interference. Political and religiously sensitive graffiti, however, is not allowed.
In Hong Kong, Tsang Tsou Choi was known as the King of Kowloon for his calligraphy graffiti over many years, in which he claimed ownership of the area. Now some of his work is preserved officially.
In Taiwan, the government has made some concessions to graffitists. Since 2005 they have been allowed to freely display their work along some sections of riverside retaining walls in designated "Graffiti Zones". From 2007, Taipei's department of cultural affairs also began permitting graffiti on fences around major public construction sites. Department head Yong-ping Lee (李永萍) stated, "We will promote graffiti starting with the public sector, and then later in the private sector too. It's our goal to beautify the city with graffiti". The government later helped organize a graffiti contest in Ximending, a popular shopping district. graffitists caught working outside of these designated areas still face fines up to NT$6,000 under a department of environmental protection regulation. However, Taiwanese authorities can be relatively lenient, one veteran police officer stating anonymously, "Unless someone complains about vandalism, we won't get involved. We don't go after it proactively."
In 1993, after several expensive cars in Singapore were spray-painted, the police arrested a student from the Singapore American School, Michael P. Fay, questioned him, and subsequently charged him with vandalism. Fay pleaded guilty to vandalizing a car in addition to stealing road signs. Under the 1966 Vandalism Act of Singapore, originally passed to curb the spread of communist graffiti in Singapore, the court sentenced him to four months in jail, a fine of S$3,500 (US$2,233), and a caning. The New York Times ran several editorials and op-eds that condemned the punishment and called on the American public to flood the Singaporean embassy with protests. Although the Singapore government received many calls for clemency, Fay's caning took place in Singapore on 5 May 1994. Fay had originally received a sentence of six strokes of the cane, but the presiding president of Singapore, Ong Teng Cheong, agreed to reduce his caning sentence to four lashes.
In South Korea, Park Jung-soo was fined two million South Korean won by the Seoul Central District Court for spray-painting a rat on posters of the G-20 Summit a few days before the event in November 2011. Park alleged that the initial in "G-20" sounds like the Korean word for "rat", but Korean government prosecutors alleged that Park was making a derogatory statement about the president of South Korea, Lee Myung-bak, the host of the summit. This case led to public outcry and debate on the lack of government tolerance and in support of freedom of expression. The court ruled that the painting, "an ominous creature like a rat" amounts to "an organized criminal activity" and upheld the fine while denying the prosecution's request for imprisonment for Park.
In Europe, community cleaning squads have responded to graffiti, in some cases with reckless abandon, as when in 1992 in France a local Scout group, attempting to remove modern graffiti, damaged two prehistoric paintings of bison in the Cave of Mayrière supérieure near the French village of Bruniquel in Tarn-et-Garonne, earning them the 1992 Ig Nobel Prize in archeology.
In September 2006, the European Parliament directed the European Commission to create urban environment policies to prevent and eliminate dirt, litter, graffiti, animal excrement, and excessive noise from domestic and vehicular music systems in European cities, along with other concerns over urban life.
In Budapest, Hungary, both a city-backed movement called I Love Budapest and a special police division tackle the problem, including the provision of approved areas.
The Anti-social Behaviour Act 2003 became Britain's latest anti-graffiti legislation. In August 2004, the Keep Britain Tidy campaign issued a press release calling for zero tolerance of graffiti and supporting proposals such as issuing "on the spot" fines to graffiti offenders and banning the sale of aerosol paint to anyone under the age of 16. The press release also condemned the use of graffiti images in advertising and in music videos, arguing that real-world experience of graffiti stood far removed from its often-portrayed "cool" or "edgy'" image.
To back the campaign, 123 Members of Parliament (MPs) (including then Prime Minister Tony Blair), signed a charter which stated: "Graffiti is not art, it's crime. On behalf of my constituents, I will do all I can to rid our community of this problem."
In the UK, city councils have the power to take action against the owner of any property that has been defaced under the Anti-social Behaviour Act 2003 (as amended by the Clean Neighbourhoods and Environment Act 2005) or, in certain cases, the Highways Act. This is often used against owners of property that are complacent in allowing protective boards to be defaced so long as the property is not damaged.
In July 2008, a conspiracy charge was used to convict graffitists for the first time. After a three-month police surveillance operation, nine members of the DPM crew were convicted of conspiracy to commit criminal damage costing at least £1 million. Five of them received prison sentences, ranging from eighteen months to two years. The unprecedented scale of the investigation and the severity of the sentences rekindled public debate over whether graffiti should be considered art or crime.
Some councils, like those of Stroud and Loerrach, provide approved areas in the town where graffitists can showcase their talents, including underpasses, car parks, and walls that might otherwise prove a target for the "spray and run".
Graffiti Tunnel, University of Sydney at Camperdown (2009)
In an effort to reduce vandalism, many cities in Australia have designated walls or areas exclusively for use by graffitists. One early example is the "Graffiti Tunnel" located at the Camperdown Campus of the University of Sydney, which is available for use by any student at the university to tag, advertise, poster, and paint. Advocates of this idea suggest that this discourages petty vandalism yet encourages artists to take their time and produce great art, without worry of being caught or arrested for vandalism or trespassing.[108][109] Others disagree with this approach, arguing that the presence of legal graffiti walls does not demonstrably reduce illegal graffiti elsewhere. Some local government areas throughout Australia have introduced "anti-graffiti squads", who clean graffiti in the area, and such crews as BCW (Buffers Can't Win) have taken steps to keep one step ahead of local graffiti cleaners.
Many state governments have banned the sale or possession of spray paint to those under the age of 18 (age of majority). However, a number of local governments in Victoria have taken steps to recognize the cultural heritage value of some examples of graffiti, such as prominent political graffiti. Tough new graffiti laws have been introduced in Australia with fines of up to A$26,000 and two years in prison.
Melbourne is a prominent graffiti city of Australia with many of its lanes being tourist attractions, such as Hosier Lane in particular, a popular destination for photographers, wedding photography, and backdrops for corporate print advertising. The Lonely Planet travel guide cites Melbourne's street as a major attraction. All forms of graffiti, including sticker art, poster, stencil art, and wheatpasting, can be found in many places throughout the city. Prominent street art precincts include; Fitzroy, Collingwood, Northcote, Brunswick, St. Kilda, and the CBD, where stencil and sticker art is prominent. As one moves farther away from the city, mostly along suburban train lines, graffiti tags become more prominent. Many international artists such as Banksy have left their work in Melbourne and in early 2008 a perspex screen was installed to prevent a Banksy stencil art piece from being destroyed, it has survived since 2003 through the respect of local street artists avoiding posting over it, although it has recently had paint tipped over it.
In February 2008 Helen Clark, the New Zealand prime minister at that time, announced a government crackdown on tagging and other forms of graffiti vandalism, describing it as a destructive crime representing an invasion of public and private property. New legislation subsequently adopted included a ban on the sale of paint spray cans to persons under 18 and increases in maximum fines for the offence from NZ$200 to NZ$2,000 or extended community service. The issue of tagging become a widely debated one following an incident in Auckland during January 2008 in which a middle-aged property owner stabbed one of two teenage taggers to death and was subsequently convicted of manslaughter.
Graffiti databases have increased in the past decade because they allow vandalism incidents to be fully documented against an offender and help the police and prosecution charge and prosecute offenders for multiple counts of vandalism. They also provide law enforcement the ability to rapidly search for an offender's moniker or tag in a simple, effective, and comprehensive way. These systems can also help track costs of damage to a city to help allocate an anti-graffiti budget. The theory is that when an offender is caught putting up graffiti, they are not just charged with one count of vandalism; they can be held accountable for all the other damage for which they are responsible. This has two main benefits for law enforcement. One, it sends a signal to the offenders that their vandalism is being tracked. Two, a city can seek restitution from offenders for all the damage that they have committed, not merely a single incident. These systems give law enforcement personnel real-time, street-level intelligence that allows them not only to focus on the worst graffiti offenders and their damage, but also to monitor potential gang violence that is associated with the graffiti.
Many restrictions of civil gang injunctions are designed to help address and protect the physical environment and limit graffiti. Provisions of gang injunctions include things such as restricting the possession of marker pens, spray paint cans, or other sharp objects capable of defacing private or public property; spray painting, or marking with marker pens, scratching, applying stickers, or otherwise applying graffiti on any public or private property, including, but not limited to the street, alley, residences, block walls, and fences, vehicles or any other real or personal property. Some injunctions contain wording that restricts damaging or vandalizing both public and private property, including but not limited to any vehicle, light fixture, door, fence, wall, gate, window, building, street sign, utility box, telephone box, tree, or power pole.
To help address many of these issues, many local jurisdictions have set up graffiti abatement hotlines, where citizens can call in and report vandalism and have it removed. San Diego's hotline receives more than 5,000 calls per year, in addition to reporting the graffiti, callers can learn more about prevention. One of the complaints about these hotlines is the response time; there is often a lag time between a property owner calling about the graffiti and its removal. The length of delay should be a consideration for any jurisdiction planning on operating a hotline. Local jurisdictions must convince the callers that their complaint of vandalism will be a priority and cleaned off right away. If the jurisdiction does not have the resources to respond to complaints in a timely manner, the value of the hotline diminishes. Crews must be able to respond to individual service calls made to the graffiti hotline as well as focus on cleanup near schools, parks, and major intersections and transit routes to have the biggest impact. Some cities offer a reward for information leading to the arrest and prosecution of suspects for tagging or graffiti related vandalism. The amount of the reward is based on the information provided, and the action taken.
When police obtain search warrants in connection with a vandalism investigation, they are often seeking judicial approval to look for items such as cans of spray paint and nozzles from other kinds of aerosol sprays; etching tools, or other sharp or pointed objects, which could be used to etch or scratch glass and other hard surfaces; permanent marking pens, markers, or paint sticks; evidence of membership or affiliation with any gang or tagging crew; paraphernalia including any reference to "(tagger's name)"; any drawings, writing, objects, or graffiti depicting taggers' names, initials, logos, monikers, slogans, or any mention of tagging crew membership; and any newspaper clippings relating to graffiti crime.
Sacred Heart University hosted the annual "Just SHU It" involvement fair on the Quad on September 30, 2019. Photo by Mark F. Conrad
This project involves constructing a new highway bridge carrying Peeler Road over the North Carolina Railroad (NCRR) tracks in Rowan County in order to reduce the risk of automobile/train collisions, improve safety for automobile and rail passengers, and reduce automobile and train traffic congestion.
This project is part of a series of improvements to the NCRR railroad corridor between Salisbury and Kannapolis, one of the busiest sections of railroad in North Carolina. The project is among improvements to the NCRR corridor between Raleigh and Charlotte to increase railroad capacity, efficiency, and safety.
This project was advertised and bid with contract awarded in April 2013.
Project is currently under construction.
Proposed project completion date is July 2015
www.ncdot.gov/projects/peelerRoad/
Miracle King | Communications Officer Divisions 7 & 9
North Carolina Department of Transportation
1584 Yanceyville Street 375 Silas Creek PKWY
Greensboro, NC 27405 Winston-Salem, NC 27127
336.487.0157 | miracleking@ncdot.gov| @NCDOT_Triad
This one made me giggle.
Part of an exercise involving cartooning where students picture a world where a different balance of power exists.
Their work hangs from a bulletin board I was able to get through a Donor's Choose grant last year.
Chatham-Kent Fire Service, unit 2-11 responded to a motor vehicle collision involving two cars on April 24, 2014.
Only minor injuries were reported.