Marking Time: Graffiti in Scotland from Street Art to Rock Art

There is something deeply human about mark-making. We want to create an imprint on the world - whether permanent or temporary - and leave a trace of ourselves in the landscape around us. This can be intensified by the significance of a place or a feeling, a person or a community.

Mark-making comes in many different forms, and can be interpreted and responded to in complex ways. Scotland is part of this global phenomenon, and people have been marking time across Scotland for over 5,000 years. From prehistoric rock art to contemporary street art and graffiti, what can we learn from these messages left by hidden hands? Call it graffiti, call it art, it’s all a matter of opinion, legal definitions and society’s choices as to what is acceptable and what is not.

In this extensively researched and illustrated hardback, Alex Hale explores the variety of graffiti and mark-making across the country - what has been carved, scratched, painted, chiselled, cut, sprayed and daubed. This includes Norse runes in Maeshowe chambered cairn, carvings left by prisoners in Edinburgh Castle, commissioned street art in cities like Aberdeen, and initials with a love heart carved into a tree in Ayrshire nearly two centuries ago.