As most people and certainly as a relatively normal teenager, I usually did not pay much attention to the inscription on the walls, but this one cold October day en route to school, I was overcome by a feeling of confusion as I peered out the foggy bus windows. What motivates this graffiti that colors these streets, I wondered?

I pondered graffiti like an inquisitive child, desperately asking "why" for no other reason but simply to understand. What is the purpose of graffiti? Why is graffiti common in some areas and not in others? What motivates some to draw graffiti and others not to?

It took nearly a year for me to really understand graffiti, and through its understanding, I came to appreciate an aspect of human life that lingers in the back of all of our minds. Graffiti to me represents an expression; an expression of a fundamental existential dilemma that we all face. That dilemma is one of permanence, or rather, our lack of permanence. As a great poet once wrote "life is but a fleeting moment that leaves as quick as it comes."

We all have an innate calling towards seeking permanence within our lives. Permanence manifests itself in many different ways, from having children, to writing a book, to starting a company, to composing music. It is through creating these illusions of permanence that we seek to assuage the anxiety within us all – the anxiety that our reality is one of ultimate impermanence.

Graffiti is an act of seeking permanence in an impermanent world. Traditional graffiti most often can be seen in neighborhoods where there is sadly little hope of worldly success. Neighborhoods where the life expectancy is so low that the existence of a building can almost represent an eternity.

But in truth, graffiti extends far beyond the walls of inner-city playgrounds. Graffiti is more than the scribble of ink on a freshly painted house. Graffiti can be equally seen when one erects a skyscraper with his name emblazoned in lights upon it; when one names a city after herself; or when one sadly commits an act of brutal terror. Graffiti is an attempt at permanence, or at minimum, an act of extending the permanence of our fleeting lives.

The soul is perhaps the only thing in our world that is truly permanent, and to me, "true" graffiti lies within this realm. Touching another’s soul through acts of kindness, generosity, and charity, can make a mark far brighter and more permanent than any can of spray paint. "Soul graffiti," is therefore the conscious act of illustrating upon the canvas of another’s soul.

Over the past few years I have begun to share my thoughts on soul graffiti with many groups and individuals and have witnessed firsthand the profound impact that its simple wisdom has produced. Soul Graffiti™ LLC was created with the single mission of building a community aimed at shifting consciousness away from "material graffiti" to that of "soul graffiti." Soul graffiti is not about inspiration or philosophy, but rather about action. As one colleague recently remarked to me, "like love, soul graffiti is a verb, not an adjective."

As Maya Angelou once wrote, "when we cast our bread upon the waters we can presume that someone downstream whose face we will never know will benefit from our action, as we who are downstream from another will profit from the grantor's gift." It is likewise my hope that through Soul Graffiti™ we can together lift our spiritual brushes to paint upon the lives of others with acts of kindness and compassion - ultimately bringing true permanence to our own lives and a beautiful mural upon the soul of humankind.

Joe Powers
Founder and Graffiti Artist