Graffiti

The first drawings on walls appeared in caves thousands of years ago.

Modern graffiti seems to have appeared in Paris in the early 1950s.

The new art form really took off in the 1970s, when people began writing their names, or ‘tags’, on buildings all over the city. 

 The 'taggers' worked in groups called ‘bands’.

Art galleries in New York began buying graffiti in the early seventies.

The debate over whether graffiti is art or vandalism ended 20 years ago.

‘Your freedom of expression begins where my property begins,’ said Peter Vallone.

For decades graffiti has been a springboard to international fame for a few.