Examination of Graffitin in Ekbatan Town, Tehran

Graffiti, a kind of media art originally emerged in the West, is not a medium to express ideas and attitudes of the marginalized political groups or those deprived of formal ways of propaganda. It appeared for the first time in New York in 1980’s. Thanks to symbols and allusions applied in graffiti, young artists represent their feelings and ideas through an arcane language. As such, they try to make themselves differentiated from the commonly accepted culture. This, to some extent, accounts for the underground nature of this art. Iranian artists, likewise, have started to express their stances with the help of graffiti. In fact, in large cities of Iran, mainly in Tehran, a hidden bond has been made between graffiti and other aspects of the Iranian young people’s life style. The present research has examined the graffiti drawn in Ekbatan Town, western Tehran, in terms of style, technique, theme and semiotic elements. Considering graffiti as an objection art, this research has analyzed the visual and written content of the graffiti shown in Ekbatan Town in terms of social semiotics. In fact, the research aimed at, firstly, identifying graffiti as an art and, secondly, at addressing applications, styles and themes of graffiti. What is graffiti? What themes does it often deal with? What structures and styles are applied in graffiti? Does the society recognize graffiti as an art? These are all the questions the research is to answer. So far, certain studies have been done to address the issue of graffiti in general. However, no study has been conducted on the graffiti shown in Ekbatan Town, in detail, dealing with techniques and themes applied. Among the studies pointed out, two works are noteworthy: Graffiti as an Art for Objection, an article by Masoud Kowsari(2010), addressing graffiti sociologically, examining the history of graffiti in Iran. The second one is the book What is Graffiti written by Karen Rashad(2004) analyzing graffiti from philosophical, historical, artistic and social aspects