I’m renting a room in house I found on craigslist. It’s a standard character house without the modern demands of ensuite and open-concept living space. In my room the ceiling is at a slant, the window is painted shut and a name is scribbled on one of the walls, “Brady” or “Brody”.

It is small and harmless and stands for a personal connection him and a place. Not intended for public viewing, it was written in the privacy of what was once Brady or Brody’s room but was made accessible to the public through free advertising. More meaningful than a doodle and does not have the exposure to be a true tag or a territorial marker (Kan 2001) it is a connection between a person and a place. It lacks apparent artistic forethought or a political agenda and while there is the sense that it is claiming a space it lies outside of a greater system of territories contested between different groups. It instead can be viewed as a marker of the relationship between a person and a location, fulfilling a personal need to be associated and remembered by place.

Kan, Koon-Hwee

2001 Adolescents and Graffiti. Art Education 54(1):18-23