Bob CollinsIf there were a single universal language, graffiti would be it. In virtually every hotspot in the world, graffiti is the language — the art, some people say — that tells the story. Sometimes it becomes part of history.
In Israel today, for example, the government restored 63-year-old graffiti once thought an eyesore and painted over. The graffiti was left on an old pumping station by an Israeli
soldier during fierce battles with Arab forces around the road to Jerusalem. It records his name, Baruch Jamili, his military unit and the year, 1948.
The Associated Press says the graffiti became an unofficial landmark and was made famous in a popular song before being erased by the building’s owner, Israel’s national water company, in 1984.
Here are some examples of modern-day graffiti that might — or might not — live on after the news that inspired it vanishes.
