Graffiti is something that I have always found interesting and mysterious. Who is the artist? What message was he trying to convey? Where is he now? Why did he paint the things he did? This interest and wonder led me to choose graffiti as a research subject. I always wanted to know more about this more modern art form and about one of the most famous graffiti artists: Banksy. I knew this would be a great opportunity to learn more about something I find fascinating, and it's a topic I would love to research. To begin, generally speaking, graffiti is any visual marking on a public space. This can be on buildings, roads, sidewalks, benches or any other object owned by an individual and exposed to the public. The artist can use any different medium, but the most commonly used is spray paint (Graffiti Artist). A recent study of Seattle graffiti types found that tagging, when the artist writes their name, signature or initials, accounted for 80 percent of the city's graffiti; gangs, 15%; politics, 3%; hateful, 1%; and art, 1% (Organic). Graffiti is very common in larger cities, as opposed to smaller, more rural towns. And in big cities, gangs are an integral part of life. Gangs often use graffiti as a means of communication. They can serve as visual signals to other gangs or gang members they are on, or any other messages that wish to be displayed (Graffiti Artist). But not all graffiti is the work of gangs. Some graffiti is done by ordinary people who are simply trying to communicate with the public and expose more people to art. Some artists have said they want to "involve people in artistic creation and make their works public", and what better way to do this than to write them down on a millimeter of paper...... middle of paper... . .. “Graffiti art: essay concerning the recognition of certain forms of graffiti as art. » Graffiti art. Np, and Web. April 14, 2014. “Graffiti artist Banksy brings fame, street art controversy (box). » Problems and controversies. Facts On File News Services, April 4, 2011. Web. April 11, 2014. “Key Events in the History of Graffiti (box). " Issues & Controversies. Facts On File News Services, April 4, 2011. Web. April 11, 2014. " The story behind Banksy. Smithsonian. Np, nd Web. April 15, 2014. Watts, Linda S. “graffiti”. New York Encyclopedia of American Folklore: Facts On File, Inc., 2006, Facts On File, Inc. http://www. fofweb.com/activelink2.asp?ItemID =WE52&iPin=EAFolk309&SingleRecord=True (accessed April 11, 2014).