Crescat Graffiti, Vita Excolatur is a project by Quinn Dombrowski documenting graffiti in public study areas in the Regenstein Library, the main library at the University of Chicago. Started in summer 2007, the collection contains over 700 pieces of graffiti. All photographs are free to reuse and remix under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike license.
The project began as a giant photo set on Flickr that caught the attention of the LA Times and the Chicagoist. In November 2009, Quinn published a book with a selection of the best graffiti, Crescat Graffiti, Vita Excolatur: Confessions of the University of Chicago. Support your local bookstore by picking up a signed copy at the Hyde Park Powell’s the Seminary Co-op, or 57th St. Books. If you’re not in Chicago, or don’t feel like walking to a bookstore, you can order one through this site or on Amazon.com. You can preview it on Google Books.
This companion website to the book includes the full graffiti collection, along with a blog highlighting the latest pieces of library graffiti, and a store with nifty t-shirts of fish eating brains, desperate pleas for coffee and booze, and words to live by– sarcastic and sincere. New: data set with all the text of the graffiti.
You can reach Quinn at quinn – at – crescatgraffiti.com. If you’ve got a story about the Regenstein Library, let Quinn know; she’d love to share it on the blog.
3/4/10
Berkeley library graffiti: violence, identity, and vaginas
Berkeley graffiti is strikingly different from UofC’s: violence is directed towards others, people care about identity, and vaginas are referenced more frequently than penises.
2/28/10
A tour of Korean graffiti
Whether they’re working hard or hardly working, Korean graffiti writers focus on very different topics than their Arabic-writing counterparts.
2/26/10
Crerar: Where the German speakers study
There may be no German in the Reg, but there’s no shortage at Crerar.
Disclaimer: I do not support, endorse or encourage writing in libraries other than on surfaces specifically designated for that purpose. Think of the poor facilities people who have to clean up after you and don’t do it. If I come across graffiti that seems to be written specifically for the purpose of appearing on this site, I won’t post it.
