GRAFFITI AS ALTERNATIVE COMMUNICATION TOOLS: DISCUSSIONS OF VANDALISM AND THE EFFECTS OF NEW MEDIA

Since their appearanceon the streets as alternative communication tools in 1980s, graffiti have led to controversies over their conceptualization as vandalism of the public property. Despite this negative understanding, however, graffiti are tools through which minorities and marginalized groups are able to represent themselves and express their voices in public spheres. Thus, graffiti are turning into alternative and protest tools of communication. Today, through the possibilities that new media and especially social media offer, the lost voices are disseminated faster through graffiti and therefore, graffiti are transformed into more effective communication channels.While acknowledging the yet ongoing vandalistic approach to graffiti, this study contributes theoretically, through a qualitative method of analysis, to the theories on graffiti by offering a discussion on how new media affects the dissemination and conceptualization of graffiti. The analysis and conclusive discussions suggest that despite the negative conceptualization of graffiti as a vandalistic act, they have been utilized as alternative communication tools and are reached by a huge number of audiences through their dissemination by new media even after their actual disappearance from the street walls.