This thesis traces the transformation of graffiti as it travels from the street to the art institution by closely examining the graffiti and installations of Barry McGee ("Twist"). As a graffitist-turned-artist, McGee looked to his environment and experiences for his art, incorporating the language of graffiti into his installations. They exhibit what I describe as his ethnography of graffiti because he creates them from his unique position as a graffiti writer, representing graffiti as both an aesthetic expression and established youth culture. In order to explain this re-mediation of graffiti, the thesis aligns McGee's works with the sculptural tableaus of Edward Kienholz to emphasize his use of the narrative to bring the audience into both the aesthetic and the social world of graffiti.