The “art” of identity development—Graffiti painters moving through time and space

Abstract

Adolescents choose to be graffiti painters for very different reasons. Depending on their motivations as well as their abilities, different developmental trajectories can be observed within a given group of graffiti painters. In addition, the significance of movement and places has to be considered. On the one hand, the adolescents must have access to certain groups so that these groups can become meaningful for the individual. On the other hand, moving through different places and through time can open up new opportunities as well as creating tensions around different experiences within and between identity facets. Identity development is thus not a static but an ongoing process. For the observer, different influential factors must be considered in order to achieve a rudimentary understanding of this complex process.

Keywords

Identity development identity facets ruptures critical life events self-concept movement place space context

The activity of painting graffiti in today's society, particularly among youths, is an interesting subject for psychology, as Hedegaard (2014) points out. She shows how different motives can lead to the decision of becoming a graffiti painter (e.g. group belonging, demonstrating freedom from authorities, being recognized as an artist, achieving fame, contributing art to public places, longing for adrenaline kicks), and how—within the group of graffiti painters—different subgroups can be identified (e.g. rebels and artists). By identifying different motives, which can certainly coincide, Hedegaard proves her point and specifies how graffiti can be “a way for young people to express their emotional relationship to life” (p. 396)—which in itself would stay rather abstract otherwise. Themes that she identifies in her interviews with Danish graffiti painters also emerge in other resources. Deutsch (2013a), who summarizes interviews with German graffiti painters, also describes similar, sometimes contradictory motives. In addition, interviews with famous graffiti artists like Dondi (1961–1998), prove Hedegaard's point: When asked why he started painting graffiti,¹ Dondi answered that he enjoyed its special kind of creativity—designing letters—which, as he says, was a kind of creativity you did not learn in school and that others, looking in from the outside, did not understand. Dondi described graffiti as a stepping-stone for him, since he had been a creative person all along. He liked how graffiti allowed him to tell his story and communicate with people, at first unconsciously and later very consciously, knowing that he was good at it and recognized for it (cp. Deutsch, 2013a).

Dondi's answers show that he considered himself as part of a group (of insiders), whose creativity cannot be understood by outsiders, and that his way of painting and the perception of it changed with levels of experience. Also, Hedegaard points out that over time, the self-concept of graffiti painters changes, if they do not stop painting altogether. Adolescents and young adults thus not only discover or choose a certain group and with it a certain identity facet (e.g. becoming a graffiti painter), they also refine or restructure this identity facet over time. Although the terms “identity” and “self” are mentioned in Hedegaard's article, the terms are not specified further since she is focusing on Vygotsky's theory of creativity and art. In the following paragraphs, identity development will be the center of attention, since Hedegaard states correctly that when analyzing “young persons in Western societies, the young persons' leaving the school age period have to find a position in new settings, recreating their identity” (p. 391).

Becoming what you can become—If you dare

Hedegaard says that some adolescents “become attracted to the youth culture of graffiti and try to make themselves a position here” (p. 391), while others do not. Why? One German adolescent graffiti painter, H., describes his attraction to graffiti as follows (cp. Deutsch, 2013a, p. 98):

Interviewer: Why did you choose graffiti?

H.: I saw a painting one day, and really liked it, and then I thought: you could do something like that.

Interviewer: Did friends introduce you to graffiti?

H.: No, not really. I just saw the paintings. It is experiencing a boom at the moment—especially, in [names of towns], which is something that did not exist before. It got into fashion, but that is ok. Also with the Hip-Hop-Movement and stuff.

H. does not doubt his ability to become a graffiti painter. As Hedegaard states correctly, many children and adolescents stop painting when they realize how their “products” are evaluated by outsiders. They internalize certain aesthetic standards and judge their abilities accordingly. Only those that are talented or that are encouraged by others continue to draw and paint. The same is true for singing. Early on, in kindergarten, German children must be encouraged to overcome their feeling of shame when asked to sing a song. It was also shown that, when encouraged, the children rediscovered the joy of singing and started singing more frequently by themselves (Deutsch, 2013b). In such circumstances, becoming “a singer” is more likely. We thus consider certain areas of self-expression or groups that define themselves through these activities² when we think we have (or can learn) what it takes to belong. Whether we finally choose them also depends on other factors (e.g. group values, local access to groups or activities). Given and having taken the opportunity to become one of the “graffiti painters,” talented adolescents will—eventually—be able to meet certain aesthetic expectations.³ This ability then influences the social status within the group. Hedegaard (2014, p. 397) points out that after having established a certain reputation, the adolescents do not want to risk it by producing “bad work,” so they are pushed to transcend themselves again and again. Nevertheless, other abilities can, for some, be more important for their identity as graffiti painters. If adolescents focus on bombing—illegally painting tags [stylized signatures] or art pieces on many surfaces in a certain area—then it is more important to be fast than to make sure that “letters rhythmically flow into each other”—since one does not want to get caught. That is one reason why—when bombing—tags are preferred over art pieces. In the latter case, the individual will cease to be a graffiti painter when he cannot perform the illegal act anymore, for example, after having been caught too often. Others might dismiss this identity facet when their work repeatedly does not meet certain standards—their own and those of their peers. Or they remain followers and show their affiliation through clothing, music choices, and appreciation for the art of others. In all of these cases, talents and abilities influence the developmental trajectories of the identity facet.

The changing importance of identity facets

Developmental trajectories become visible in Hedegaard's article on several levels: within the identity facet of being a graffiti painter (see paragraph above), and by showing how this facet might be replaced by others over time. Deutsch (2013a) describes graffiti as an art between “provocation and innovation” (p. 93). By painting on public property, graffiti painters are doing something illegal, which means that they often have to paint at night—always in danger of getting caught. In Hedegaard's article, graffiti painters state that fellow painters left the graffiti scene when they became parents and “could not get out at night that easily anymore” (p. 394). It is likely that the responsibility for a partner and children as well as other factors (e.g. cognitive development) also influence this decision. In general, delinquent behaviors—and illegal graffiti painting can be considered as such—peak in late adolescence and early adulthood, but decline after that (see Figure 1). On the one hand, delinquent behaviors offer opportunities to release tension and can, for example, be seen as transitory rebellion against authorities or as an attempt to find a position within new settings while becoming more and more autonomous—as Hedegaard describes it. On the other hand, the decline might also be explained by delinquents becoming more experienced and, therefore, harder to catch. Nevertheless, more supportive evidence for the first explanation can be found (cp. Spieß, 2012; Wittenberg, Reinecke, & Boers, 2009), showing that what constitutes identity can shift over time. The birth of a child, taking the example given by the graffiti painters, can be seen as critical moments (Thomson et al., 2002) or as a fateful moment (Giddens, 1991), a critical life event (Filipp, 1995) or rupture (Zittoun, 2006) that demands reorganization.

Figure 1.

Number of convicted delinquents in different age groups in Germany (not including traffic related delinquencies, not including Non-Germans) (Spieß, 2012, p. 11).

Following such a life change, the normal flow of events is interrupted, because one now has to take care of another human being; the current system is altered. The individual is—in the course of adaptation—confronted with perceptions that contradict those that were congruent up until now (e.g. participating in illegal actions). The self-concept must then be modified until relative stability (congruence) is achieved (cp. Zittoun, 2006). In this process, the identity facet “graffiti painter” might lose its significance and be pushed to the periphery of the self-concept (or it is dismissed completely), whereas “being a father/mother” becomes more important and is moved to the center of the self-concept.

Tensions as a motor driving the development of identity facets

Identity as well as the self-concept of an individual can be defined in many different ways. If the terms are not used synonymously, as done in this article, a possible differentiation is the following: According to Zhao, Grasmuck, and Martin (2008), the self-concept represents “the totality of a person's thoughts and feelings in reference to oneself as an object […]” (p. 1817). Given that definition, identity can then be understood as the “part of the self ‘by which we are known to others’” (p. 1817). This definition relates to James’ (1890) definition of the self, in which he differentiates between the “I,” as subject or knower, and “Me,” as object or known. We can “be known by others” in many different ways (cp. James, 1890). We can be a friend, colleague, a man, a woman, neither of the two, a good athlete, a great scientist, an awful lover, the owner of a certain property—and we are known by our physical appearance, to give only a few examples. All facets of ourselves—be they known or unknown to others—can act in support of or in contradiction to each other, and not all of them are in the foreground at the same time. James (1890, cited in Barresi, 2002) points this out when saying that the stream of thought “is always interested more in one part of its objects than in another, and welcomes or rejects, or chooses, all the while it thinks.” Contradictions like the ones described above, in which a new identity facet (“being a parent”) suddenly contradicts value systems related to other facets (“being a graffiti painter”) can be solved by rejecting one facet or focusing on the one that is more important at the time. This process can also be described in terms of Hermans' Dialogical Self Theory, in which different voices representing the different facets within the individual exist. These voices then interact in a dialogical fashion, which can lead to tensions that need to be solved by finding compromises, by prioritizing, or, if this is not possible, by simply enduring them (cp. Hermans & Kempen, 1993). As Hedegaard points out, these tensions do not only occur between different identity facets, but also within the same ones. She describes “tension between the feeling of freedom through drawing graffiti and the same time being restricted being part of a subculture a ‘secret graffiti society’; a tension between becoming known through painting one's graffiti name or making the name artistic; painting graffiti at illegal places to be part of the graffiti movement or painting graffiti as art in public places” (Hedegaard, 2014, p. 392). Solutions for these contradictions, for example, through prioritizing, can be temporary, as Hedegaard shows. Whereas the younger graffiti painters often state that the illegal aspect of their work (disobedience as a sign of freedom) is most important for their identities, older and more experienced graffiti painters more often stress the importance of communicating with outsiders as well as the quality of their art. This shows how, by moving forward and becoming more experienced, graffiti artists' evaluations of themselves change. These changes in and of themselves also create contradictions and tensions, namely between the past and the present (or even with the anticipated future). In other words, what the adolescent believed to be most important in the past is not as important any more. Surprisingly, these changes do not seem to be contradictory for the adolescents interviewed by Hedegaard. Keupp (2012) offers an explanation. He says that telling the story of one's own development—a creative process in itself—allows the individual to experience continuity and coherence despite these apparent contradictions. The negotiation of “multiple and conflicting versions, positions and projected possibilities” (Taylor, 2010, p. 129) leads not to just one but to many stories told in different situations and for different audiences (cp. Bamberg, 2008). According to Zittoun (2006), the meaning-making process involved includes (a) the linking of time and (b) relating events to a system of orientation that includes values and criteria on which thinking and actions are based (the “piloting system,” p. 191). The linkage in time is achieved by acknowledging and referring to past events, while, in the present, taking future options into account (see also Watzlawik, Schachter, & Cunha, in press). In this process the reference to and narration of the past can change. Josselson (2009) even states that the present constructs the past and stresses “how autobiographical memory may be used dialogically to create and contrast with current self-constructions, to disavow intolerable aspects of self, and to preserve disused but valued self-representations” (p. 647). When looking at identity development, we thus have to consider these linkages through time while the individual is moving forward and from place to place.

Opportunities and challenges influenced by places

While Zittoun and Gillespie (2014) differentiate between society and the contexts within society that an individual moves through, others prefer the terms places and spaces (cp. Merrifield, 1993). Context, as defined in WordNet 3.0 (Princeton University, 2012), can refer to linguistic context describing the “discourse that surrounds a language unit and helps to determine its interpretation.” Based on this definition, one can “cite out of context.” Context can also refer to a certain setting describing a “set of facts or circumstances that surround a situation or event (e.g. the historical context).” Conditions or environment are listed as possible synonyms. Identity development should also always be examined in relation to the context (environment, conditions) that the individual is surrounded by. Nevertheless, how the individual relates to the context (other people, artifacts, tools, objects, etc.) is probably of greater importance. Taylor (2010), for example, hints at this interaction when saying that “cultural context and the associated knowledge and values which shape and mediate people's experience and interpretations of their lives” have to be taken into account (p. 129). Whether culture is, from the perspective of the individual, an internal or external (contextual) phenomenon—or both—has been discussed widely (cp. Jahoda, 2012; Valsiner, 2012), which shows that the distinction might be problematic. A possible solution for our case is the differentiation between space and place.

We all live in a three-dimensional world (space) and “with years of experience, we are all highly skilled at structuring and interpreting space for our individual or interactive purposes“ (Harrision & Dourish, 1996, p. 67). We thus create places. Harrision and Dourish (1996) differentiate space and place as follows: “Space is the opportunity; place is the understood reality” (p. 67). This is closest to the humanist approach described by Merrifield (1993):

Recent research on place […] has, in broad terms, attempted to reconcile the traditional spatial analyst's concern for space (chorological ‘areal differentiation’ in Hartshorne's neo-Kantian lexicon), Marxists' concern with social relations and structural factors, and humanists' appeals for subjectivity, place meaning and place experience (see Entrikin, 1991).

In the case of the graffiti painters, it mattered whether they were in Aarhus or Copenhagen. Aarhus offered a legal graffiti wall, so the painters from this city were more interested in legal graffiti than the ones from Copenhagen, who did not have the opportunity to create art legally in the center of the city. In addition, the wall in Aarhus showed the history of the local graffiti painters and became meaningful in this way, so that when the wall was painted grey in 2005, part of the collective identity, that of the Aarhus graffiti painters, was destroyed (cp. Hermans & Kempen, 1993). The group was shocked by the alteration of “their” place—a place that they not only perceived as theirs, but had created and restructured again and again. Thus the individual is surrounded by a certain “given” space, and is exposed to and creates different places based on the given opportunities—also altering space for other individuals in the course of (collaborative) action. Space and place are therefore different aspects of a unity “that is two facets of a dialectical process just as the wave and particle aspect of matter is assumed in quantum physics” (Merrifield, 1993, p. 527).

What places are, again, depends on the individual piloting system, as Zittoun (2006) calls it. Places are created by relating certain aspects in space to a system of orientation that includes (shared) values and criteria on which thinking and actions are based. This also includes scripts for certain places (e.g. how to behave in a restaurant). Despite this shared knowledge, individual perceptions of places can vary widely. A technically well-equipped room at a university can be a great place for studying and meeting fellow scholars for one student (focus on atmosphere and people), but a thief entering the same room might be thrilled by all the technical devices he can steal later on (and to which the student might not pay particular attention).⁴ A wall in Aarhus can depict the history of the local graffiti painters for one person, but can be mere proof of delinquency for another, again leading to very different perceptions and evaluations (pride or disgust). Since individuals assign meaning to certain places, these places then emerge in their self-narratives as well (e.g. when going “home” or saying that a small village had nothing to offer). Continuity is established by describing movements from one place to the other, always incorporating established value systems that shape the meaning-making processes involved, for example, graffiti being delinquency by law. Non-places, as Hedegaard cites from Augé (2000), would then only exist if no one recognizes them as places. As soon as graffiti painters choose these so called non-places to create art, they turn into places. They would also be considered places for those who react with disgust, as recognition does not necessarily have to be positive.

Conclusions

Identity development, as shown here by referring to the graffiti painters described by Hedegaard, is a complex process that can be viewed on different levels (see Figure 2). On the one hand, movement in and between places must be taken into account. This movement has a passive aspect (being exposed to), but also an active aspect (choosing and shaping places). Both influence the experiences an individual makes over the course of time. Zittoun and Gillespie (2014) differentiate between proximal, distal, and integrative experiences. According to them, experiences can either directly relate to what is happening in that moment at a certain place, or they can “entail memories, meanings and feelings from a distal [place] intruding into the immediate” (p. 3). An individual can thus have the immediate experience of painting a piece, but might think of the partner who is waiting at home while doing so (distal experience). In this situation, tension can occur between the identity facets of being a graffiti painter and being the partner of somebody else. Experiences thus shape and constitute certain identity facets that can be seen as categorical schemata. These schemata can, on the one hand, help the individual to develop a sense of identity, but they can, on the other, create tensions by the expectation that might be linked with them (e.g. “a good partner should be home at night”). That tension can occur within and between identity facets was shown above. Another aspect that has not been explicitly mentioned thus far is described by the concept of intersectionality (cp. Budde, 2013). Identity facets do not just contradict but also influence each other when not being contradictory. An individual can be a woman, a graffiti painter, and an African immigrant at the same time, but it is likely that her experiences as a “graffiti painter” are different from those of a male, Danish graffiti painter—due to her gender and ethnic background. If the identity development of graffiti painters is examined, these interactions should not be neglected or should at least be discussed, since, as Budde (2013, p. 248) states,

[…] one would need infinite categories to describe the complexity of circumstances as well as power relations in a differentiated and appropriate way. Out of numerous—mainly methodological and research-related pragmatic—reasons, this expansion is not limitless.

Figure 2.

Different aspects of identity development (selection).

This selection can take place on different levels in the research process. Either the researcher focuses on certain aspects of identity by examining, for example, gender identity, sexual identity, ethnic identity, or identity construction among graffiti painters, or the research participants select what they focus on in their biographical narratives. The narratives (see Figure 2) can, as described, create a sense of wholeness or coherence between different identity facets by linking or prioritizing them at the present time in reference to the future and the past.

Hedegaard shows many of these aspects in her article without explicitly referring to identity development. She shows how “graffiti may be seen as a way for young people to express conflicts” (p. 401) and to “fill emptiness” (p. 401). Her examples underline the variability of motives and individual meaning-making in the course of identity development. Since painting, as well as singing are ways of expressing oneself that are often lost in adolescence and adulthood, the article shows quite vividly how these artistic activities can have a cathartic effect, and—in some cases—can lead to a certain expertise and appreciation of one's own products (objects), beyond the borders of the graffiti community. These can be considered valuable experiences supporting the development of certain identity facets. Even if space is provided for legal graffiti painting, the illegal tagging and painting will probably still continue, since disobedience is a major motive for many painters. Nevertheless, we would probably have more artists like Banksy, whose pictures greet me every day when I boot my computer, if we supported the artistic endeavors of the young as a form of self-expression outside given aesthetic standards. As always, beauty is in the eye of the beholder.

Footnotes

1

Taken from an interview in the magazine Overkill from 1993 as cited in ).

2

Other identity facets, like gender identity or sexual identity, are not based on certain skills, but on discovering certain (emotional, sexual, social, etc.) preferences (cp. Watzlawik et al., in press).

3

For example: “The different painters agreed that it is the creative aspect and the flow in a graffiti piece that is important, e.g. if the letters rhythmically flow into each other.” (Hedegaard, 2014, p. 397).

4

Assuming that we are not talking about different identity facets of the same person.

Author biography

Meike Watzlawik is a honorary professor at the International School of Management in Hamburg (since 2013), a private lecturer at the Technical University of Braunschweig, Department of Developmental, Personality, & Forensic Psychology (since 2008) and the CEO of a private career counselling institute in Bremen (since 2010), Germany. From 2008 to 2009, she was a visiting scholar at Clark University, Worcester, MA, working in the field of Theoretical & Cultural Psychology. Her main research interests are identity development (e.g., sexual, dyadic, occupational) and family relations.

References

Augé

(2000) Non places—Introduction to an anthropology of super-modernity, London: Verso.

Bamberg

(2008) Small stories as a new perspective in narrative and identity analysis. Text & Talk—An Interdisciplinary Journal of Language, Discourse Communication Studies 28(3): 377–396.

Bamberg, M. (2011). Who am I? Narration and its contribution to self and identity. Theory & Psychology, 21(1), 3–24.

Barresi

(2002) From “the thought is the thinker” to “the voice is the speaker”: William James and the dialogical self. Theory & Psychology 12(2): 237–250.

Budde

(2013) Intersektionalität als Herausforderung für eine erziehungswissenschaftliche soziale Ungleichheitsforschung [Intersectionality as a challenge in educational social inequality research]. In: Siebholz

Schneider

Schippling

Busse

Sandring

(eds) Prozesse sozialer Ungleichheit [Processes of social inequality], Wiesbaden: VS Verlag, pp. 245–257.

Deutsch

(2013a) Wie Kreativität in der Entwicklung des Zeichnens wächst, vergeht und—manchmal—wieder neu entsteht [How creativity within the development of drawing grows, dies, and—sometimes—re-emerges]. In: Watzlawik

(ed.) Kreative entwicklung [Creative development], Marburg: Tectum, pp. 82–104.

Deutsch

(2013b) Die Bedeutung von Musik für die ganzheitliche Entwicklung von Kindern [The significance of music for a holistic development of children]. In: Watzlawik

(ed.) Kreative entwicklung [Creative development], Marburg: Tectum, pp. 63–66.

Entrikin

J. N.

(1991) The betweenness of place, Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press.

Filipp

S.-H.

(1995) Ein allgemeines Modell für die Analyse kritischer Lebensereignisse [A general model for the analysis of critical life events]. In: Filipp

S.-H.

(ed.) Kritische Lebensereignisse [Critical life events], Weinheim: Beltz, pp. 3–53.

10.

Giddens

(1991) Modernity and self identity, Cambridge: Polity.

11.

Harrision

Dourish

(1996) Re-place-ing space: The roles of place and space in collaborative systems. In: Ackerman

M. S.

(ed.) CSCW 96 – Proceedings of the 1996 ACM conference on computer supported cooperative work, New York, NY: ACM, pp. 67–76.

12.

Hedegaard

(2014) Exploring tension and contradictions in youth activity of painting graffiti. Culture & Psychology 20(3): 387–403.

13.

Hermans

Kempen

(1993) The dialogical self: Meaning as movement, New York, NY: Academic Press.

14.

Jahoda

(2012) Critical reflections on some recent definitions of “culture.”. Culture & Psychology 18: 289–303.

15.

James

(1890) The principles of psychology Vol. 1. [online series: Classics in the history of psychology]. Retrieved from http://psychclassics.yorku.ca/James/Principles/ (accessed May 2014).

16.

Josselson

(2009) The present of the past: Dialogues with memory over time. Journal of Personality 77(3): 647–668.

17.

Keupp

(2012) Identität und Individualisierung: Riskante Chancen zwischen Selbstsorge und Zonen der Verwundbarkeit—sozialpsychologische Perspektiven [Identity and individualization: Risky opportunities in between taking care of oneself and being vulnerable—social-psychological perspectives]. In: Petzold

H. G.

(ed.) Identität. Ein Kernthema moderner Psychotherapie—interdisziplinäre Perspektiven [Identity. Essential topic in psychotherapy—interdisciplinary perspectives], Wiesbaden: VS Verlag für Sozialwissenschaften, pp. 77–105.

18.

Marcia

J. E.

(1993) The ego identity status approach to ego identity. In: Marcia

J. E.

Waterman

A. S.

Matteson

D. R.

Archer

S. L.

Orlofsky

(eds) Ego identity. Handbook of psychological research, New York, NY: Springer, pp. 3–21. .

19.

Merrifield

(1993) Place and space: A Lefebvrian reconciliation. Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers 18(4): 516–531.

20.

Princeton University (Eds.). (2012). WordNet 3.0 [www resource]. Retrieved from http://wordnet.princeton.edu/ (accessed May 2014).

21.

Spiess, G. (2012). Jugendkriminalität in Deutschland—Zwischen Fakten und Dramatisierung—Kriminalstatistische und kriminologische Befunde [Youth delinquency in Germany—Between facts and dramatization]. Retrieved from http://www.uni-konstanz.de/rtf/gs/G.Spiess-Jugendkriminalitaet.htm (accessed May 2014).

22.

Taylor

(2010) Narratives of identity and place, London: Routledge.

23.

Thomson

Bell

Holland

Henderson

McGrellis

Sharpe

(2002) Critical moments: Choice, chance and opportunity in young people's narratives of transition. Sociology 36(2): 335–354.

24.

Valsiner

(2012) Introduction: Culture in psychology: A renewed encounter of inquisitive minds. In: Valsiner

(ed.) The Oxford handbook of culture and psychology, Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp. 3–24.

25.

Watzlawik

Schachter

Cunha

Exploring exploration as a recursive process. In: Beckstead

(ed.) Recursion in human systems, Charlotte, NC: Information Age Publishing(in press).

26.

Wittenberg

Reinecke

Boers

(2009) Verbreitung, Entwicklung und Erklärung von Delinquenz im Jugendalter. Ergebnisse einer aktuellen Längsschnittstudie [Incidence, development of and explanations for delinquency in adolescence]. Journal for Educational Research Online 1: 106–134.

27.

Zhao

Grasmuck

Martin

(2008) Identity construction on Facebook: Digital empowerment in anchored relationships. Computers in Human Behavior 24: 1816–1836.

28.

Zittoun

(2006) Transitions. Development through symbolic resources, Charlotte, NC: IAP.

29.

Zittoun

Gillespie

(2014) Integrating experiences: Body and mind moving between contexts. Retrieved from http://www.ccp.aau.dk/digitalAssets/77/77085_zittoun-gillespie_body-and-mind-moving-between-contexts.pdf (accessed April 2014).