Art and Territory

The two gangs associated with the graffiti are two Los Angeles centered gangs, Barrio 18 in the black graffiti, and Mara Salvatrucha or MS-13 in red. The first thing I know is that the MS-13 graffiti is covering the Barrio 18 graffiti. Which means, this block that used to belong to Barrio 18, is now new territory for MS-13. I previously watched a documentary on Nat Geo specifically on MS-13, and one thing they mentioned was how they identified territory through where they placed the graffiti, and gaining or losing territory, always involved some type of exchanged gun fire.

To the left of the photo, the next this written in red, as far as I can see, says “187 Evil Side” which identifies the location. Or it can also be one of the gangs “cliques” that helps to operate specific parts of the gang's territory. Which could also operate not only to let others know who runs this area, but maybe to establish some sort of pride in the fact that it was this clique that gained more territory for the gang. But then also the fact that there isn't a lot of graffiti on the wall, can also indicate that this area is newly adopted by both gangs. An area that before didn’t have a lot of gang activity, but now can possibly be on the rise.

From this photo as well, we can get an idea for the type of neighborhood this was found in. The faded coloring on the brick, as well as towards the end of this building could mean that it hasn't been well taken care of. That indicates that the gang’s territory operates in a lower-income neighborhood, rather than a rich suburb like Wilmette.

What's interesting about this piece of graffiti is that MS-13 is in red and Barrio 18 is in black, but both of their colors are black and blue (flag of El Salvador). My only thought here is that since Barrio 18 used black, the rival gang used red in order to not associate the new graffiti with the same gang by using blue, they chose red to stand out, or maybe to indicate the blood lost over gaining this territory.