As you drive on many local roads throughout the area, you can’t miss the spray painted words and symbols on many nearby outcroppings. For the purpose of this piece I am refering to this as “Country Graffiti”. There may be a better term but I’ve never seen it discussed or written about so this is my own term.
I don’t particularly pay attention to it but I would think most people at least notice it occasionally. Wikipedia has this to say about graffiti in part:
“(The) name for images or lettering scratched, scrawled, painted or marked in any manner on property. In most countries, defacing property with graffiti without the property owner’s consent is considered vandalism, which is punishable by law. Sometimes graffiti is employed to communicate social and political messages. There are many different types and styles of graffiti and it is a rapidly developing art form whose value is highly contested, being reviled by many authorities while also subject to protection, sometimes within the same jurisdiction.”
I must admit I’ve never stopped and asked a property owner if these marking met the above definition of graffiti. For all I know, the owners of property could have spray painted them themselves. I haven’t seen any to be what I would consider “social or political messages” though. Usually, it’s just people’s names and a message about so and so loving so and so.
From what I’ve seen, it basically records a person’s presence at a particular spot or commemorates their romance. However, Wikipedia also notes that “this type of graffiti is dated and is left untouched for decades, offering a look into local historical minutiae”. It could be claimed that it demonstrates a dull idleness which bespeaks a pretty boring existence and/or some desire for a quick thrill.
However, the flip side is that it’s really out-of-place in a rural pristine setting. Many would argue it actually works against local economies because tourism supports so many in the Adirondacks. If our picturesque roads, which bring people into the area, are turned into blighted thoroughfares, it takes away from the experience of why tourists come here in the first place.
Maybe I’m a hermit, but I’ve never heard this discussed at any public meeting: local and/or state. I don’t even know if the Adirondack Park Agency or the State Transportation Department has a policy on it.
However I did hear a story once about a local artist in Maryland who caught some boys writing graffiti on her outside wall and made a deal with them. She would bring them into her studio and teach them how to truly “paint” and they would agree not to make any more graffiti. Perhaps that’s the best message. If you give people an education and inspire them through your talents, you not only transform their idleness into something better but you protect the world and make it a better place at the same time.
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