Going all city : struggle and survival in LA's graffiti subculture / Stefano Bloch.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Bloch, Stefano, author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Graffiti--Social aspects--California--Los Angeles.

Graffiti.

Graffiti artists--California--Los Angeles.

Graffiti artists.

Subculture--California--Los Angeles.

Subculture.

Graffiti--Social aspects.

California--Los Angeles.

Physical Description:

205 pages ; 23 cm

Place of Publication:

Chicago : The University of Chicago Press, 2019.

Summary:

"In the late 1970s, cities began to declare war on graffiti, and task forces were created to stop the scourge. By the 90s, graffiti became inextricably linked with rising gang violence in the public imagination. But who are the real people behind graffiti? Why do they risk their freedom, and sometimes their lives, to write across city walls? "We could have been called a lot of things: brazen vandals, scared kids, threats to social order, self-obsessed egomaniacs, marginalized youth, outsider artists, trend setters, and thrill seekers," says Stefano Bloch. But, most of all, they were just kids growing up hard in America amid staggering conditions of violence and poverty. Going All City is their mesmerizing and heartbreaking story. Bloch, himself one of LA's most prolific writers, saw it all firsthand. Some of what he writes is grave, even chilling: brutal interactions with law enforcement and random violence at the hands of gang members; white supremacist relatives and undocumented friends; violence and imprisonment; addiction, eviction, and homelessness. The result is an unflinching portrait of a much maligned subculture and an unforgettable personal meditation on what writing on city walls means to the most vulnerable people living within them"-- Provided by publisher.

Contents:

A night out

The under G round kings

Getting in

Factions

Where we stayed

Left behind

Players

Small world

Kids rulin' society

Freedom

All City

Can't be stopped.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references.

Other Format:

ebook version :

ISBN:

9780226493442

022649344X

9780226493589

022649358X

OCLC:

1089846058