The Writing on the Wall




In my last week in Bulgaria, I had a camera. In the days between booking the flight out and catching it, I took snaps of whatever caught my eye. Here's some of the graffiti.

You've got a spraycan and an opportunity. What's the first thing you think to draw? What does that reveal about you? Hmmm.


Is this patriotic? Is it about war or peace? Or is it just a nice shape that at one moment appealed to one person with a spare moment?


At least I know what these are about.




They export vodka to us. What do we export to them?


Nazis are wrong in every way. Even their geometry.


Still, some graffitio themes are universal.


There's also a second kind of wallwriting, whose purpose I could could only guess at.




And finally...a scribbled out mistake? A drunken whimsy? Something occult?


Graffiti. A message to everyone and no one. The vandalism of the creative. A way to personalise public space, cultural barometer, and Rorschach blot for the perplexed visitor.

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