This pivot analyzes the historical emergence of legal graffiti and how it has led to a new
ethos among writers. Examining how contemporary graffiti writing has been brought into new
relationships with major social institutions it explores the contemporary dynamics between
graffiti society the art world and social media paying particular attention to how New York
City's political elite has reacted to graffiti. Despite its major structural transformation
officials in New York continue to construe graffiti writing culture as a monolithic criminal
enterprise a harbinger of economic and civic collapse. This basic paradox - persistent state
opposition to legal forms of graffiti that continue to gain social acceptance - is found in
many other major cities throughout the globe especially those that have embraced neoliberal
forms of governance. The author accounts for the cultural conflicts that graffiti consistently
engenders by theorizing the political and economic advantages that elites secure by endorsing
strong 'anti-graffiti' positions.
