We can consider graffiti in a variety of ways, as cultural communication, artistic expression, or cathartic achievement. However we consistently seem to do so in the context of the present, in a society with a stigma towards public artistic creativity and amidst a generation of counter-cultural visionaries. What seems amiss in this perspective though is the appreciation for the antiquated and enigmatic origins of graffiti, such as the famous ‘Chad’ image teamed with the ‘Kilroy Was Here’ line. This form of graffiti harkens back to the time of World War 2, when soldiers, sailors, and airmen alike would revel at the fantastically obscure localities that the Kilroy graffiti would find itself in.
This iconic image is actually a combination of the ‘Chad’ character, a famous British cartoon, with the infamous American tagline. The original author of the Kilroy tag has never been discovered, however it has long been thought that a shipyard inspector named J. J. Kilroy started the trend inside the hulls of ships going to sea. Observed “in virtually every location where U.S. armed forces went” (Brown 2000), this artwork was in no way a political or social statement, but instead a mysterious and unifying phenomena. What mattered was not the message itself, but instead who got to see it, specifically servicemen across the globe and far from home. This use of graffiti presents it as a semblance of the familiar, as a means to communicate an idea to those even in the most distant places. That idea: you are not alone.
Jordan Lin
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