I’m hoping all of you have had the opportunity of looking at amazing graffiti, referred to by many as “street art” in some cities in the world. They are available and free to everyone. There are numerous lists of the best cities in the world to see street art. My favourites include London, Cape Town, Paris, Amsterdam, Lisbon, but my two top places are New York and Berlin. We stayed for three months in the big apple , and we walked everywhere following street art.

Some of the adhoc sightings were the biggest thrill. Berlin and their wall, which has changing street art is amazing. From visits I would also recommend Buenos Aires, Melbourne for tracking down street art. I must admit to taking photos of the real special street art and printing it on canvas and putting them on display at home , when it’s time for a change or space is needed I just give it away.  

Our house in Victoria has a number of Berlin Wall prints. The originals on the wall in Berlin in many cases have been painted over. The history of graffiti goes back thousands of years in caves. In the 1960s, graffiti was visible in Philadelphia, before New York, which some assume was where it all started. Today the most famous graffiti artist is Banksy, and his PR stunts and style has a massive following. This has resulted in a greater number of people showing interest in street art . Much street art depicts the struggle of communities, some  humorous, some recording history, religion, music but some difficult to understand.

Art, they say is in the eye of the beholder There are cities that in my view have been spoiled with meaningless excessive graffiti, not art but more, just words. Belgrade is my best example. I’m happy to live  in a city that has little ugly graffiti, but  where the government encourages outer  walls of schools and government buildings to have street art. There is other street art  depicting protests,  memories of bad times, paintings of animal etc. There is a need to  find an area to develop and contain street art in Colombo. Easy to say, hard to control. In Singapore there is a legal area for graffiti, done elsewhere is not legal , except approved murals of a historic nature. 

So when you visit a new city, take the time to check out the graffiti and street art, amazing talent, and it’s free.