The Romans were big on graffiti. They drew lewd drawings for the public and also introduced Political Caricatures to poke fun at politicians.
In the Paris riots of 1968 a 'graffiti style' was introduced to graphic posters designed for the protesters. Graffiti was also used on the streets to express opinions. This scrawl proclaims "It is forbidden to forbid" i think.
Graffiti as we think of it today really kicked off in 1970's New york. Mostly poor men used walls as a canvas to express there opinion or spread there style. This was achieved with a spray can and used street language, with the primary goal of making sure that the poor communities were not ignored.
In the 1980's fine artists began to use street art to become popular. Advertisement company's used street art to sell products. Graffiti art became very mainstream to the annoyance of people who felt they were 'genuine' graffiti artists, who like tats cru began working for big corporations themselves.
Recently Graffiti art been elevated to high society. It has come off of the street and into art galleries. The likes of Banksy and Shepard Fairy are responsible for this transformation. In 2008 Shepard Fairy designed a poster in support for Obama's campaign, which became a sensation.
In the 21st century it is clear that graffiti of street art is used by art school graduates instead of people from the streets themselves. Many of whom carry out jobs for major corporations to support genuine street art in their private lives.
However Graffiti art also still carries out its primary function in poor and war torn parts of the world. People who need the world to hear them use surfaces like the West Bank Barrier to paint murals in a super sized format to get their message out, in the same way West-Germans painted signs of peace and hope on their side of the Berlin wall. Unfortunately even this space has been visited by popular artists from the west in a pursuit of fame and notoriety.
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