It has been around for two thousand years, at least, and appears in all cultures throughout the world with numerous examples surviving from Ancient Greece, the Roman Empire and the Mayan culture in South America.
Graffiti (the plural form of Graffito) can best be described as images or lettering scratched, scrawled, painted or marked in any manner on property and has always been around, although undoubtedly not to the extent that it is today.
Marker pens and cans of spray paint have become the modern tools of what is variously described as art, vandalism or a separate sub-culture. It’s everywhere, all over the world, and is unlikely to go away despite legislation being brought in by many countries.
Graffiti ranges from simple signatures or ‘tags’ to full-blown canvases, each style having its own name, such as ‘fill-in’, ‘piece’, ‘throw-up’, ‘blockbuster’ and ‘roller’ to name but a few. In ancient times it was variously used for protests, advertising, leaving messages….so no real change there.
Wherever you go these days, you are unlikely to escape from it, and Nerja is no exception. The graffiti is fairly frequently removed, although you can still usually see the faint outlines of previous ‘works’. And nowhere is sacred, take a careful look at the church on the Balcón de Europa and you can still see the traces of graffiti.
So, what type of art/vandalism/sub-culture does Nerja have to offer? Time for a wander round the western end of town with the camera!
So, mostly ‘tags’ on the main streets with one or two names popping up on several occasions. It takes hours to scrub out the graffiti but only seconds for a new one to appear, a losing battle.