There’s graffiti and then there’s graffiti. Sadly, around Leeds there tends to be more ‘so-and-so waz ere’ graffiti than Banksy. That said, I’m a big fan of graffiti done well. Inner city train journey’s are certainly made less boring with a variety of graffiti.

Clearly the tagger has a certain style and flair with the spray can, and I like the green and blue used, but it does lack a certain pazazz. The one below is on the same bridge and is a typical example of common-all-garden inner city graffiti, which is why people view graffiti as a blight on the urban landscape instead of the art form it can be.

Compare the shots above with this snapshot from Memphis. Wouldn’t our cities be brighter with more of this?

A shame, because Leeds, like a lot of cities, has a lot of dull, grey concrete that needs livening up.