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A graffiti artist-turned professor on the history and evolution of the artform

Stefano Bloch Going All City Los Angeles Graffiti
Stefano Bloch
An example of graffiti in Los Angeles from Stefano Bloch's book, "Going All City."

Stefano Bloch spent his childhood doing graffiti on the streets of Los Angeles. He says it was about more to him than just the notoriety that comes with being a prolific graffiti writer. 

Now, he has taken that experience into his academic career, studying sub culture identity, forms of expression, and the way people inhabit the built urban environment as an associate professor at University of Arizona. He even wrote a book about it all called "Going All City: Struggle and Survival in LA’s Graffiti Subculture."

The Show spoke with him more about the long history of graffiti — and how it came to be seen as high art sometimes today.

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Lauren Gilger, host of KJZZ's The Show, is an award-winning journalist whose work has impacted communities large and small, exposing injustices and giving a voice to the voiceless and marginalized.