An ally, toilet, and wall. There are a lot of graffiti around us. What do people think about them? Do they think graffiti are messy? There is a person who collects these graffiti. His name is Do In-ho, the graffiti collector. He published <Graffiti of youth> based on the collected graffiti. The Inha Times met this unique collector and talked about his unique interest in depth.

The Inha Times (IT) : Please briefly introduce yourself and your unique interest.

Do In-ho : I majored of Landscaping and published <Graffiti of youth>. This will be the 7th ~ 8th year of collecting. I collected about 3,000 of graffiti. I introduced funny graffiti to normal audience by managing my own blog named <Graffiti of Seoul>.

IT : What made you collect graffiti?

Do In-ho : I was taken to military in 2006. In those days I was depressed, so I hung around Jamsil station. In the meantime, I saw a lot of erotic graffiti at toilet. And I went to see them in 2008 again but those erotic graffiti disappeared. Instead, sexual minority's stories were written all over the wall. Then I realized that graffiti can reflect certain era. Since then I am collecting graffiti and take pictures if it is funny and meaningful.

IT : Where do you collect graffiti usually?

Do In-ho : I live in Seoul, so Seoul provides a background for my graffiti collecting, mainly. I look for places that have a lot of graffiti. Specifically, since lots of people gather at Hongik university and Itaewon, they have many interesting and creative graffiti. Also, Namsan and Seonyudo park where lots of lovers date, have countless love graffiti.

IT : What is your standard when you collect graffiti?

Do In-ho : To be honest, I do not think graffiti have much deep intention or meaning in itself. Most of the graffiti are written in unconsciousness and thus are very frank and creative. I collect graffiti which show the 'boredom' that the writer may had.
 

IT : What is your favorite graffiti?

Do In-ho : I started collecting in earnest, after 2 years of its first founding. It was scribbled "What are you doing?" at wall of convenience store in Hongik university. Then I reflected on myself while staring that graffiti. Another one was scribbled, "Love Yourself" in Ogeum park. That graffiti surely gave me comforts deep in my heart.

IT : Do you have any memorable episode while collecting graffiti?

Do In-ho : It happened at Namsan. Namsan has this culture of throwing a key after writing graffiti on lock. Commonly, there are a lot of love graffiti, but I discovered an unique graffiti saying, "Does a couple last forever?" It was really funny and I took a picture of that lock. Suddenly some Chinese tourists took the picture after me.

IT : Would you tell us about your future plan?

Do In-ho : I would like to focus on recording locality of Seoul. In that sense, I collect graffiti in succession. If I get a chance, I want to collect signboard as one of Seoul series. I hope to collect funny, childish but touching signboard around Seoul.

홍예린  yljh8163@daum.net

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