If I could change anything about my experience here in Urbino it would be my arrival, mostly because I didn’t witness it myself. When we got here I was fast asleep so I missed all of the scenery of the hills and sunflower fields that I would have seen span far and wide on approaching this town. Most importantly, I missed the wall that leads into the campus that has this elaborate mural-style graffiti.

I remember seeing it the first night here when a some of the students in the program decided we would storm and explore the center of town. Leaving the college, I could see the graffiti that looks like the skeleton of a unicorn. Continuing on, there is graffiti that appears to represent a kidnapping of  two people. However, my favorite is what seems to be the autobiographical tale of a graffiti artist’s  journey to make his art. In this black and white piece there are three men. One is sitting on the top of a wall. His face is unseen. next to him is another man in aviator sunglasses. The fingers of his right hand braces the wall while the left hand holds a can of spray paint. Only his face can be seen. The last and most clandestine member of this trio also uses his right hand as an anchor while the other holds a spray paint can. He merely pokes the top of his head over the wall. All that can be seen are eyes and a shaved head. It occurred to me when  I saw this that this must be what a graffiti artist looks like in the act. It also occurred to me that whoever this tagger was, he is taking graffiti to a new level.

Obviously growing up in Los Angeles there is plenty of graffiti, but generally it’s just someone’s name or self-given pseudonym. This and so many others that I’ve seen while here in Urbino, Italy are expressive in a way that I haven’t seen from the graffiti at home. The graffiti here actually seems to have a point of view. And even if it doesn’t, it is carefree and fun. There seems to be a significant difference in attitude when it comes to the graffiti here; the graffiti artists consider their work to be art and not just folly.