I always promised myself I wouldn’t put Graffiti under a microscope. Scrutiny from the academic industry often sterilizes and commodifies beautiful experiences; this was one part of my life that didn’t need to get locked in the Ivory Tower.

But two things changed my mind.

First, conversations with the legendary Skeme arose when he came to speak for an immersion program I was piloting for the English department. As a Graffiti Writer in the late 1970s and early 1980s, Skeme’s accomplishments on the subway trains earned him the title “3 Yard King” and his iconic works were the source of inspiration for thousands of other artists over several decades. However, most teaching on the subject of street art would favor white artists like Keith Haring while neglecting a foundational legacy such as that of Skeme. The ivory tower already likes to talk about Graffiti, and it’s our job now to ensure the quality of that conversation. See more about my learning design for our immersion pilot here and more about Skeme’s participation in our “Remixing Pedagogy” here.

Second, stronger academic expertise about the aesthetic stature of Graffiti could have allowed the U.S. federal court to protect the paintings at the global art center 5 Pointz. Expert testimonies against the value of the artwork came from lawyers with degrees in classical greek pottery, and soon the collection was whitewashed. Who could stand in front of a judge to challenge their credibility, let alone offer recognized expertise in Graffiti? See more about working with artists (who finally won their trial!) here.

As a contribution to the growing scholarly conversation, I designed, researched and am now writing a doctoral book project “New York Style Writing: Subway Graffiti as Poetics, Archive and Social Network.” Given the complexity of the subject—ranging from art history, comparative literature, architecture/urbanism, critical and systems philosophy, and archives/curation—I needed to conduct multiple interdisciplinary research projects simultaneously.

After studying artists’ affinity structures, identity formation and interaction values, I iteratively tested hypotheses, and analyzed the results (after recognizing many mistaken assumptions). Research always happens in a historical context. Through partnerships with colleagues and community groups, we were able to strengthen content resources, strategies and implementations.

To understand how New York style influences Graffiti Writers across the globe, I needed to engage and empathize with a broad range of geographies and practitioners. By designing and implementing a four continent research program; collect extensive data via ethnographic, site-specific, archival and interview methods.