Drawings
[Decorative] Signatures and short messages
Different languages
Political and Religious views
Self Expression and temporary messages Temporary messages might be found all around the world, in every city. Usually they are inscribed in the dirty surfaces and left there to see only until someone cleans it. Writings on muddy surfaces are usually seen during the winter - the harsh weather provides many filthy surfaces for people to express themselves. Those surfaces are mostly unwashed cars or frosted windows. During other seasons it is not that common to find a dirty window or a wall in today’s Western cities, so whenever such opportunity presents itself most humans tend to leave a mark.
Leaving a message As much as 40.000 years ago humans drew messages in the caves to communicate - something we call paintings or art now, was used to warn others about the dangers in surrounding environment, or tell stories about the past victories. Such ancient messages survived drawn on- or scratched in stone until nowadays, but countless writings in wood, dirt or sand were used years before, but were wiped out by time. They were just temporary messages.
It is clear that those drawings in the caves were meant to communicate to someone. The question is, to whom? Where those paintings meant for other tribe or family members? Archaeologist Henri Breuil argues that such drawings might be a part of a magical hunting ritual. But is it possible that the ancient man wanted to simply leave a mark after himself? To show one’s life for other generations? It is known that “contributing to a future by leaving a legacy [...] my reduce death anxiety” (Robert Woods, Linda Clare, 1996), which might have been quite common in the ancient times, knowing that even a deeper cut or broken bone meant losing your life. But a modern human is more concerned with social death - constant and proper communication, as well as self-expression will keep one “socially alive”. Because whether it’s 40.000-years-ago or today being banished from the tribe means death - actual or social.
Non-virtual social media Therefore a contemporary human has trained oneself to communicate every detail of one’s life in order to keep being a part of an all-sharing community. Be it an inspirational quote, a photo of a holiday moment or a delicious dinner - today’s society’s basic communication is “if we don’t see it, it didn’t happen”. So an active member of society uses all the available media to leave a mark of every-day life, even such minor as writing its current emotions “[Name] is feeling HAPPY now”, so that other members may see it and approve “it did happen”, “you are happy”. With countless such messages appearing in the media every hour, the readers’ attention span is getting shorter and shorter for every message, therefore the messages get shorter as well. Visuals, such as photos or symbols, and abbreviations are conquering the social media.
But social media is not only virtual - any place that could be used to leave a message (a wall of a building, a window of a car, an object in the street), which other members of the society could see, it just as acceptable. But there is one difference though - if in virtual media one’s message will be seen mostly by people with similar point of views or concerned with similar problems, the message in reality is anonymous (unless signed) and will affect a wide range of inhabitants in the area. Therefore a virtual message might be seen as seeking for approval or looking for a conversation, whereas the one in reality is pure expression of oneself, a message that requires no judgment - no likes, dislikes, or comments - it is simply left there to be noticed.
Temporary taging Just as in virtual media, the reality’s social media walls, windows, objects - also bare short messages in symbols or words. But the contents depend on the materials - scratching in wood or brick will survive much longer than a paint job, and a drawing on the dirty or frosted surface is there until someone else just wipes it out. So messages such as “[Name] loves [Name]” or “[Name] was here” - the ones that a human wants to be true forever (in a lifetime understanding) - will be inscribed in more durable surfaces; whereas temporary surfaces will be marked with temporary viewpoints that might change over time - emotions, a crush on someone, or political views.
Moreover, using a temporary surface allows complete freedom of expression. Scratching or using paint on a surface is mostly considered vandalism, therefore only the brave and rebellious people, usually youngsters, use such places. But a surface that can be easily cleaned is a perfect place for free expression for any member of the society - it is not against any laws, and is usually greeted with a smile by other people, depending on a message, of course.
Directed message Temporary messages are also a great way of anonymous communication. It could be used to express religious or political views, only to be agreed or disagreed with - drawing a smiley face next to it as a sign of support or crossing the message out to oppose. In case of the dirty car, a very common “clean me� or similar message is left for the owner of the vehicle, which allows one to urge the other to follow the views and morals of the society - the views of what is considered aesthetic and hygienic - in this case, a clean car.
Societies in the colder climates have another temporary message media - frosted windows. A message depend on the kind of window - a house window will probably bear a message to the inhabitant, whereas a frosted window on the public transport will be directed at another commuter, who could add something to- or expand a message and so continue to spread the message to multiple commuters until the frost is cleaned or melted.
It is clever to assume that the amount of messages will differ in different cultures. But this is not due to the need of expression, but rather to the media - the amounts of permanent or temporary tagging, or virtual messages depends on the common way of expression in such culture, and on the possibilities. We may suppose that a culture with limited access to virtual social media is much likely to use the walls and the objects in the streets, compared to highly-virtualized cultures. Although permanent messages are popular in both - the transience of temporary and virtual messages evoke the need for more permanent way of expression, but such messages then differ and are inscribed by a different subculture than those, which are written or drawn in dirt or frost.
Ce r t a i n l y , t a g g i n g o n surfaces has been used as a social media years b e fo r e v i r t u a l m e d i a appeared, and a separate research might reveal how tagging changed - is it used more or less, has the contents changed, and how the commonly used surfaces changed?
But one thing is clear - for years people have left short messages for other people to understand, or inscribed their names into durable or temporary surfaces - to be remembered and to leave a mark that one was truly there. Because even if it is just for a short period of time, another member of the society will (probably) see the message and just a single notice will mean the one is/was socially-and-really alive.
Dinner experiment illustrate dinner on a tablecloth
Message is important only for a certain time
Time First Then Later Finally
Draw what’s on the table Write information Explain conversation visually Redraw what was spilled on
Message transports through different medias
Media Face-to-face conversations Google translations Phone call information
Gintare Cerniauskaite 2015.01.05