Conceptualizing Graffiti as a Tool for Social Change in Nairobi

Abstract

Graffiti is an art form that is steadily growing yet still widely misunderstood in Nairobi. There are, however, positive messages that graffiti artists intend to communicate in their work. These messages may not reach the intended audience due to the misconceptions that they hold. The purpose of the study was to contest the misconceptions that exist about graffiti and highlight it as a serious creative art form which can be used to inspire social change. The specific objectives were to analyze the use of graffiti to communicate social issues in informal settlements within Nairobi, to establish clear categories of graffiti within Nairobi and to demonstrate the potential of using graffiti as a tool for instigating social change in informal settlements within Nairobi. This study will provide vital information to authorities, scholars and anyone else interested in graffiti as an art form. A snowball sampling technique was used to select artists for interviewing while a purposive sampling method (Heterogeneous sampling) was used to sample locals from the selected areas for interviewing. Primary data was collected through interviews, field studies, review of documents and archived records. A case study method was used and this allowed for an in-depth study of graffiti within Nairobi. This revealed that clear categories of types of graffiti within Nairobi didn’t exist, several misconceptions about graffiti still existed among residents due to lack of information on the art form and these misconceptions hindered communication between graffiti artists and Nairobi residents. To tackle these challenges, the study shed light on graffiti as an art form in Nairobi. Several photographs of graffiti were collected within Nairobi, analyzed and relevant categories of graffiti were then established. Interviews were conducted with graffiti artists and Nairobi residents to demonstrate the potential of using graffiti as a tool for instigating social change.