Walking through the streets of Salvador, Brazil, one quickly notices walls adorned with spray paint. While some pieces are intricate street art, others consist of letters and symbols known as “tags.” In the United States, graffiti, especially tagging, is criminalized and commonly viewed as vandalism. However, after a lesson with local artist Eder Muniz, I left with a new understanding of graffiti and its potential role as both a tool and an indicator of a neighborhood’s social well-being.
Eder equated the presence of graffiti in a neighborhood to a sense of perceived safety.
To illustrate this idea, he conducted an informal experiment at a neighborhood bus stop: he painted one wall but left the other untouched. Over time, he observed that people began lining up only on the painted side, likely due to a higher sense of comfort and safety there. Eder also explained that he views neighborhoods with more tagging as safer, because tagging provides an outlet for self-expression.
In urban neighborhoods without tagging, he fears that people are forced to suppress their emotions and will take feelings of hate and frustration out in other, more violent ways. This perspective stands in stark contrast to dominant narratives in the United States, where graffiti is often associated with danger and disorder.
Our lesson in Eder’s home was followed by a graffiti walking tour, during which we saw walls transformed into powerful works of art reflecting the culture and identity of the local community. Many murals highlighted Afro-Brazilian history, religious traditions, and everyday life in Salvador.
Graffiti creates opportunities to represent neighborhood history and cultural practices through visual storytelling, offering visitors meaningful insight into community life.
Beyond street art, tags function as a form of communication expressing political views, social resistance, territorial identity, and frustrations among disenfranchised populations. Viewed through this lens, graffiti becomes not a sign of disorder, but a visible record of community presence, voice, and resilience.
If graffiti can serve as both cultural expression and social communication, then reframing how we understand it in the United States could fundamentally change how we approach urban safety and community investment. Rather than treating graffiti solely as a problem to be erased, it could be used as a tool for identifying communities in need of additional social support, providing a voice to marginalized communities, and improving the built environment and perceived safety in urban areas. This lesson also underscores the importance of providing accessible creative outlets for youth in underserved neighborhoods, which may help reduce the likelihood of emotionally driven violence by offering alternative forms of expression. Overall, graffiti challenges us to reconsider whose voices are allowed in public spaces and how honoring those voices can contribute to safer, healthier communities.
Johnna Bakalar, MPH
PhD in Epidemiology Student
Colorado School of Public Health