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What is Man’s Evidence?

Through the years of traveling domestically and abroad, I get to see how societies of different cultures give respect to their environment. With the environment changing, all of us around the world are making the effort to be more conscience of recycling, more energy efficient and living a cleaner life but have we started to look at the purposeful defacement of the things around us and what it also means?

People are tagging or putting stickers on city signs, businesses, or on property like trashcans, benches and fences. Not only property of the city or state, but on private property. Etchings in nature (trees) or the public walkways are also a target of this defacement. In some cities, this is out of control and we as a society have become anesthetized to it. The majority of us don’t even give it a second glance or thought about how this is depicting our own neighborhoods or city. We might think its funny or cool or a form of free expression. That might be true, but there’s a forum or proper way to go about it.

The images seen on this website are taken in neighborhoods and areas of my photo adventures. There is no lack of opportunity to demonstrate this destructive behavior. On one day, there’s nothing (or graffiti and stickers removed) and the next, new graffiti or stickers. Why is it that we feel the need to “tag” everything around us? Do we not get enough attention at home, work or school? Are we doing it as a free form of advertising for our business or band? And what is that saying about your morals and standards as a businessperson?

What I do find somewhat entertaining is the etchings in the cement. There are some pretty harsh or funny statements but then there are lovely sentiments to love ones. The image seen on this page is from my parents backyard. When I was little, along with my siblings, our parents put our hand prints and names in the cement walkway between our two back yards. I’ve really grown to appreciate the thoughtfulness of our parents’ to memorialize our youth “forever” in the backyard. This gesture doesn’t fall into the destructive concept of this project because it’s in the privacy of our home on our property but there are images seen here that follow this memorialization but seen outside the privacy of their backyard – seen on the public sidewalks or driveways.

Galleries

Is it a free form of marketing or purposeful defacement with no rhyme or reason? There's a bit of joy seeing some that just make you smile, while others are thought provoking.

Stickers

Is it a free form of marketing or purposeful defacement with no rhyme or reason? There’s a bit of joy seeing some that just make you smile, while others are thought provoking.
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What is the point if others can't read the message? Why does one need to put their name everywhere? There's a small sense of worth letting people know you were there but at whose expense?

Tagging

What is the point if others can’t read the message? Why does one need to put their name everywhere? There’s a small sense of worth letting people know you were there but at whose expense?
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I'm sure we've all done this in some form, like on a desk or a tree. For the most part these are sentimental and happy evidence findings. They are more "acceptable" even if it's nature that takes the brunt.

Etchings

I’m sure we’ve all done this in some form, like on a desk or a tree. For the most part these are sentimental and happy evidence findings. They are more “acceptable” even if it’s nature that takes the brunt.
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