Graffiti is an integral aspect of a city’s aesthetic and culture. This book discusses the different opinions on street art and it’s impact on surrounding communities, both negative and positive. Graffiti is the body ink of a city. Graffiti is a form of public expression that rejects authority, draws from cultural issues, and is fueled by artistic experimentation and expression. Over the last forty years graffiti has evolved into the art form that it is today. This lead to the acknowledgment and appreciaton of the of the unbridled socio-political statements communicated through graffiti. Graffiti is now recognized as a legitimate art form and subject of study that has infiltrated the global art scene. worldwide, including Austin, Texas.

Austin is a city unlike any other in the world. Residents are known as Austinites they include a diverse mix of government employees, college students, politicians, musicians, and artists. Austin has an uncanny ability to attract art culture, specifically graffiti. The city is overflowing with iconic murals from South Congress’s iconic, “I love you so much”, to the ever-evolving graffiti park at Castle Hill, and the vibrant Hispanic influenced murals of East Austin. The local motto is “Keep Austin Weird”, which is used to promote the eccentricity and originality of this city’s culture and it’s inhabitants.

The writings enclosed in this book do not discuss graffiti techniques, but the intrinsic link between a city’s culture and street art and how different communities embrace graffiti while others consider it a trashy act of vandalism. Most of the images in this book are from the East Austin, specifically the neighbhood of East Cesar Chavez. This neighborhood is a cultural amalgamation of all things “Austin”, from electic shops, abundant of Mexican culture, speciality bars, and a wildly diverse population. This neighborhood, along with much of Austin, has been going through an agressive gentrification process. Abandoned shacks reside next to multi-million dollar homes. People who have lived in their homes for decades are being forced out to make room new real estate developments. The change of demographics has lead to a cultural metamorphosis of the neighborhood. Austinites are concerned that the unique culture, specifically the street art, of East Austin will fade away once the diversity is gone. The artists will flock to different neighborhoods that won’t tear down their work to make room for something bigger and better; to a place where graffiti is still what shapes street culture and is viewed as something to be admired rather than destoyed or painted over.