Cave Art and Graffiti

Cave Art and Graffiti
Student Chosen Topic
Maggie McBrady

    In class we talked about ancient cave paintings and how the people of the time viewed the cave as the womb of the earth.  By painting on the cave they believed they were communicating to the womb the animals they needed to survive.  As I was thinking about the cave paintings graffiti popped into my head.  I am by no means an expert on the use and history of graffiti but I do know a little about a very famous graffiti artist named Bansky.
   Bansky is a political and social activist who has chosen graffiti as his medium.  As a disclaimer, the large hype about Banksy may only be due to the mystery surrounding him but some of it is merited.   As I said I am not a graffiti artist but usually graffiti is used as a way to claim territory for a gang but Bansky has taken a different approach:  activism.  His graffiti serves no purpose for his own gain.  
   Now back to the cave paintings.  Could Bansky be using the walls and buildings in the same way the ancient peoples used the cave?  Is he attempting to communicate a need to higher power?  Or is painting on a wall simply the easiest way to get people talking about an issue?  I think there is some overlap between Bansky and the ancient peoples.