towards a contemplative graffiti: Miksang contemplative Photography and Graffiti Art
Urban environments teem with visual stimuli—towering buildings, shifting crowds, and the constant hum of everyday life. Within this milieu, layers of paint, ink, and marker scrawl come together to form a visual chorus often dismissed as mere vandalism or fleeting background noise: graffiti. For years, graffiti art has offered vibrant splashes of color and culture to streets worldwide, boldly demanding attention from anyone who pauses long enough to notice. Yet, it is precisely the act of pausing, of truly seeing, that remains rare. Enter Miksang photography, a contemplative discipline rooted in Buddhist principles of pure perception. Miksang encourages us to drop preconceived notions and judgments, to look deeply and openly at whatever crosses our lens. At the intersection of Miksang photography and graffiti art lies a profound opportunity: to see our urban landscapes with fresh eyes, and to discover in them a contemplative, often profound beauty.
The Essence of Miksang Photography
Miksang, a Tibetan word that loosely translates to “good eye” or “pure eye,” describes a way of photographing that eliminates the filters of expectation, memory, and bias. Miksang photographers don’t merely document the world; they experience it. This approach was birthed out of the Shambhala Buddhist tradition, emphasizing that the world is inherently “fresh” before we overlay our habitual commentary onto it. Rather than searching for a “perfect shot,” Miksang practitioners wait patiently for the moment when the eye recognizes something visually compelling in an ordinary scene—an unexpected alignment of colors, a sudden interplay of light and shadow, or the organic patterns that emerge from cracked concrete and peeling paint.
This is not about technique in the conventional sense—f-stops, shutter speeds, or expensive lenses. While technical proficiency matters, Miksang’s true skill lies in cultivating a state of relaxed alertness, a capacity to move through the world without judgment and simply see. When captured through the camera, these unedited truths are shared as honest images, each one a discovery of the beauty that exists in the ordinary.
Graffiti Art: Ephemeral and Expressive
If Miksang photography is about seeing the inherent artistry in the mundane, graffiti art is often the unnoticed artist lurking in the background, waiting for that attentiveness. Contrary to popular belief, graffiti has a rich cultural lineage. It is both ephemeral and rebellious—an art form that claims public space without permission, carving out a niche in a world otherwise dominated by advertising, signage, and sanctioned aesthetics. Like any form of street art, graffiti evolves with the city, continually overwritten, layered, and renewed. Walls become palimpsests of expression: a splash of neon lettering one week, a furious political message the next, and a collage of illegible tags soon after.
One of the ironies of graffiti is that despite its loud presence, it often goes unnoticed. People commute daily past these surfaces layered with paint, but many never really see them. They register them only as messy backdrops, at best a nuisance and at worst an eyesore. Even those who admire street art might only briefly glance, acknowledging the colors without fully engaging.
The Contemplative Graffiti View: A Miksang Perspective
To bring a Miksang sensibility to encountering graffiti is to abandon all presumptions about what it “should” look like or represent. Instead of labeling a piece as “good” or “bad,” “art” or “vandalism,” one simply stands before it, looks, and breathes. In the Miksang approach, you begin by softening your gaze. Instead of scanning the wall for something recognizable—a signature style, a political message, a familiar name—you let the color fields, lines, textures, and contrasts wash over your visual field. Before you know it, patterns emerge: the gentle curve of a letter’s tail, the way splattered paint dots form a cosmic constellation across a brick surface, the extraordinary transitions from one hue to the next as daylight shifts.
This kind of seeing turns a nondescript alleyway into a gallery of raw expression. The careful observer will find surprising harmonies. Perhaps a rusted industrial pipe slices through a bright green tag, creating a visual dialogue between manufactured form and hand-painted flair. Or sunlight filters through a chain-link fence, casting geometric shadows that dance over an explosion of magenta spray paint, resulting in an impromptu installation dependent on time, weather, and angle of perception. In these moments, the graffiti ceases to be “just graffiti”—it becomes a living artwork whose evolution and presence depend on nature, the city’s pulse, and the viewer’s willingness to attend closely.
Practice: Methods for engaging in Contemplative graffiti
1. Slow Down Deliberately: Begin by choosing a graffiti-saturated environment you pass frequently. Maybe it’s the alley behind your apartment or the underpass you cross on your daily commute. Allow yourself ten or fifteen minutes to simply stand still and look, without raising your camera at first. This will help your mind settle into a receptive mode.
2. Soft Gaze, Open Mind: Don’t seek meaning immediately. Let your eyes rest gently on the surfaces, shapes, and colors. Notice the tension between vibrant strokes and cracked masonry. Observe how shifting light alters the appearance. Become aware of your initial thoughts and judgments, and then let them go. Recognize that you do not have to name or categorize what you see.
3. First Thought, Best Thought: When something visually “clicks”—perhaps a pattern of drip lines or the manner in which two tags overlap—lift your camera. Take the shot without overthinking composition. In Miksang practice, the moment of recognition is key. Trust it.
4. Embrace Imperfection: Street art is inherently imperfect, layered, and often chaotic. Miksang celebrates this. There is no need to straighten lines in post-production or correct for the “ideal” exposure. The aim is to capture the felt experience, the immediate perception.
Fruition: Insights from Contemplative Street Encounters
By regularly engaging with graffiti in a Miksang-inspired manner, you cultivate a new relationship with your environment. Over time, you might notice profound shifts in how you perceive not only street art, but the world at large. Here are some ways this practice bears fruit:
1. Heightened Appreciation: Once you begin seeing graffiti through Miksang eyes, your appreciation for visual creativity in unexpected places grows. Even the smallest tag or subtle layer of paint can reveal the hand of an individual artist asserting a presence in the city’s narrative.
2. Increased Presence: Photographing graffiti contemplatively requires you to be present—fully alive in the moment, free from distractions. This presence often extends beyond photography sessions. In your day-to-day life, you may find yourself pausing more frequently, noticing colors, textures, and compositions everywhere.
3. Transformed Environments: Through repeated engagement, a neglected alleyway or a graffitied garage door can metamorphose into a site of reverence. You come to realize that artistry thrives where we pay attention, and that these once-overlooked corners of the city have something to teach us about creativity, impermanence, and resilience.
4. Connecting with Community: By appreciating graffiti in this contemplative way, you indirectly honor the individuals who risk time, effort, and sometimes legal repercussions to share their vision. You may feel a sense of connection to the countless anonymous artists who have contributed their lines and colors to the urban tapestry. This can lead to richer conversations, deeper respect, and a more empathic understanding of the city’s cultural fabric.
Conclusion: Renewing Our Vision of the Ordinary
In a world oversaturated with mediated images and curated feeds, the quiet practice of Miksang photography offers an antidote. It gently reminds us to simplify our gaze, to suspend judgment, and to revel in the exquisite details hiding in plain sight. Graffiti art, often relegated to the margins of respectability, provides an ideal subject for such exploration. Its raw expression, vibrant colors, and ephemeral presence challenge us to remain open and receptive.
By bringing a contemplative eye to the riotous visuals of graffiti, we discover that what we considered “unworthy” of our attention is in fact teeming with moments of brilliant perception. We come to understand that beauty is not only found in designated galleries or curated exhibitions. It emerges spontaneously, on concrete walls, alleyway corners, and overpasses—and all we have to do is look deeply enough to see it.
In the intersection of Miksang photography and graffiti, we find a quiet revolution of perception. This subtle shift in how we view our world can bring forth a more heartfelt engagement with our surroundings, rekindling our capacity to be astonished, inspired, and fully alive right where we stand.
Justin F. Miles LCPC-S LGADC-S, Founder, Hiphop Alive