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 1500 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 it 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 l/2010/04/20/the-ritual-graffiti-of-burton-judson/ive by– sarcastic and sincere.
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.
8/10/10
Arizona State University: Where literacy comes to die
Frat names and homophobia are major forms of graffiti communication at ASU.
6/20/10
The Sexual Palimpsest of Brown University’s “Rock”
Brown University’s Rockefeller library (“The Rock”) has 15+ years of graffiti layered on top of study desks… and a lot of it is about sex.
5/19/10
The fall and rise of the B-level men’s bathroom
The nerdiest place on earth has met its demise… and begun to rise again.
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.
