Greece - the wall art of Athens

If you had said to me twenty years ago, if you want to become famous, start adding graffiti to random walls around the UK, I would of considered you mad! But for Banksy, this is exactly what has happened and has taken UK street art to a whole new level. Of course, graffiti has been occurring for thousands of years, the Roman examples have given us a real insight in a long lost age.

Looking back to 2011 and my first visit to Athens, it was fair to say Greece was under the European spotlight with constant financial pressures. The financial crash of 2008 left the nation in hardship, with some starting to express themselves by applying graffiti in areas not far from the Acropolis. Its been going on for years but intensified to an epic proportion. The unemployed younger generation had time on their hands and no other way to vent their frustrations and views.

Not that it was restricted to buildings, as trains and rather amusingly vans have been given the same treatment. Only amusing as in thinking of the owner's expression when he came out in the morning to find his white van had changed colour.

Fast forward to a revisit in September 2020, an array of graffiti and wall art is still present but many are bigger, more elaborate and has brought notoriety to some. How they can produce some on such a large scale is mind-boggling, can they really be done overnight?

One of the most famous is of Loukanikos, the dog which stood with workers in the picket lines in the noughties.

Talking to a local Athenian, they told me they once spotted a young guy applying his trade in daylight. When questioned, he simply said the police had more important things to do than to stop him. He offered a card with an Instagram hashtag, it seems for some, it's becoming an advert for their work. The more famous ones are indeed often initialled.

One of the most well-known artists is known as INO, who has created amongst others the Da Vinci Wall.

Back in 2011, it seemed to be a statement of intent, today it almost seems like a tourist attraction or art gallery. Embraced by some, the local Athenian authorities have started a clean-up campaign vowing to clean 10,000 square metres of building facades. I guess we should really distinguish between graffiti and wall art.

Somehow I don’t think we have seen the last of Athens wall art, it was prevalent in classical Greek times and still is today. Will it ever change?