Istanze identitarie e racconto di sè in un gruppo di adolescenti writers

This paper attempts to investigate the world of graffiti art as a phenomenon widely popular among adolescents in all urban contexts. We hypothesize that this activity is an answer to the need of identity and of belonging, typical of adolescence. In particular, we analyzed individual, group and context aspects. Twenty adolescents (thirteen-twenty years old), nineteen males and only one female have been administrated a semi structured interview. The transcript has been analyzed according to the following categories: individual aspects, such as autobiography, behavior, emotions, personal commitment; group aspects, as the crew and the rules; contextual aspects: belonging, communicative goals, relationship with law. The results show two aspects of the activity: on the one hand, graffiti represent an answer to identity needs through its obvious visibility, a revelation and recognition of the self through tagging; on the other hand, it responds to the need to belong through the crew reciprocal loyalty, the challenge and sharing milieu.