Painting, or bombing, the New York subway system soon became the primary focus for young graffiti writers obsessed with having their name seen as widely as possible. The nascent art movement developed it own grammar, rules and culture. ibid.
In the summer of 1989 the British Transport Police launched a series of raids to arrest Bristol’s most infamous graffiti artists. The raids were the culmination of Operation Anderson: a year-long investigation into Barton Hill: the biggest anti-Graffiti operation ever to be undertaken in the UK. ibid.
Basquiat and Keith Haring were really the beginning of street art, modern street art. ibid.
For Banksy, there was no influence more important than the French stencil artists: Blek le Rat. Blek, who had first encountered graffiti on a trip to New York, adapted the idea of street art to the European tradition, stencilling political statements on walls … 1981: stencils of rats started to appear in Paris. ibid.
That winter, Banksy entered Tate Britain, placed a painting on the wall and walked into the history books. With incursions into museums and galleries, and other stunts that followed, Banksy pioneered a new type of performance art. ibid.
Palestine: In 2005 … he travelled to the Middle East to paint the West Bank barrier, a controversial wall erected by the Israeli government … The collection of paintings that resulted by met with international acclaim. ibid.
2007 Santa’s Ghetto: The plight of the Palestinians … he held the annual Santa’s ghetto in Bethlehem. ibid.
In 2017 he opened The Walled Off Hotel, a dystopian art installation that marked the 100th anniversary of British control over Palestine. ibid.
A year later Banksy returned home to stage Banksy vs Bristol Museum, his largest exhibition to date. ibid.
Groups were known to use violence to get their own way. The graffiti across Pompeii reveals the city was gripped by powerful collegia, each with their own agenda. Gangs of Pompeii aka Pompeii: The Bodies in the Basement Channel 5 2019
Their alleged victims are all white males in their early to mid twenties; they go missing after a night-out with friends and weeks later they are found drowned; they have GHB or some other sedative in their bloodstream; their wallets and keys are found with them but they’re missing their phones; and in each case smiley-face graffiti can always be found close-by. Is it all just coincidence or is something more sinister happening here? True Crime Recaps: The Smiley Face Murders, Youtube 19.51, 2022
Who put Bella in the witch elm? True Crime Recaps: Who Put Bella in the Witch Elm? Youtube 12.07, 2022
This is the story of a wartime spy, or maybe it’s about the sad demise of a troubled woman, although some people say it’s actually the tale of a sinister occult ritual. ibid.
A late afternoon in Hagley Wood on a private estate in the West Midlands region of England in April 1943 when four teenage boys snuck into the woods … An old witch elm tree … Nestled in the tree’s hollow trunk was a human skull, two crooked teeth stuck out from the mouth, and a patch of rotting flesh remained on its forehead with strands of long filthy hair still attached. ibid.
When the police took a closer look they found more than a skull inside the witch elm: there was also a shoe, a fake gold wedding band, and a nearly complete skeleton. ibid.
She’d been dead for at least a year and a half. ibid.
Mysterious graffiti appeared on an abandoned building. It read: Who Put Bella Down the Witch Elm. ibid.