Crafting a ‘senseplace’: the touch, sound and smell of graffiti

ABSTRACT This article explores the senses of touch, sound and smell through the craft work of subcultural graffiti to develop a new understanding of place. It draws from ethnographic data collected from 18 months of research edgework involving active participation in the field. Firstly, it positions graffiti as craft work involving practice, skilled use of tools, insightful judgments and use of the body. Secondly, because graffiti can provoke strong practitioner feelings it explores sensory engagements. In forming this somatic link between the senses and craft work this article reveals how a particular personal consciousness regarding place is produced by an individual practitioner. It then discusses how sensory engagements through graffiti craft practice produce a conceptual reconfiguration of space and this is posited as a senseplace.