--- title: Street art and graffiti: legal walls vs vandalism — a lesson of Mova's school · trees and pragmatics description: «Street art and graffiti: legal walls vs vandalism», a lesson of the arts course of Mova's primary school, sentence by sentence with dependency trees and pragmatics. It begins: Street art is art in public places, and the big question is always the same: did the owner agree? --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/arts/19-street-art-and-graffiti-legal-walls-vs-vandalism/) [home](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) / [corpora](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/) / [school](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/) / [Arts](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/arts/) / Street art and graffiti: legal walls v… # Street art and graffiti: legal walls vs vandalism Lesson 19 of the arts course of Mova's primary school: 17 sentences, each with its syntax tree and pragmatics. The lessons are written for Mova, and their agreed trees are part of Mova corpus 0.4 (CC BY-SA 4.0). How Mova does on its tests: [the lesson at school](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/school-run/arts/19-street-art-and-graffiti-legal-walls-vs-vandalism/). - [0](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/arts/19-street-art-and-graffiti-legal-walls-vs-vandalism/0/) — Street art is art in public places, and the big question is always the same: did the owner agree? - [1](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/arts/19-street-art-and-graffiti-legal-walls-vs-vandalism/1/) — A huge mural on a block of flats, paid for by the council, is legal and often loved; a name sprayed on a bus shelter without asking is vandalism. - [2](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/arts/19-street-art-and-graffiti-legal-walls-vs-vandalism/2/) — Picture Callum's mate spraying his tag (a quick signature) on the bus shelter and saying "it's just art, innit": the next day a council worker scrubs it off, paid for with everyone's taxes. - [3](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/arts/19-street-art-and-graffiti-legal-walls-vs-vandalism/3/) — Many cities have legal walls where anyone can practise graffiti, and good murals are planned on paper first, with a sketch, a grid to scale it up, and the owner's agreement. - [4](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/arts/19-street-art-and-graffiti-legal-walls-vs-vandalism/4/) — Some street art becomes famous, like Banksy's stencils, and some towns protect loved graffiti behind glass while neighbours argue "It's art!" "It's a mess!"; but train tracks are never a place for art, because fast, quiet trains and electrified rails kill. - [5](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/arts/19-street-art-and-graffiti-legal-walls-vs-vandalism/5/) — Street art has its own slang: "bombing" is graffiti slang for spraying lots of tags fast, a "piece" is a big detailed graffiti painting, a "writer" is a graffiti artist, and "ayo" means hey, what. - [6](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/arts/19-street-art-and-graffiti-legal-walls-vs-vandalism/6/) — A mural is a big wall painting done with permission, often paid for by councils, building owners or festivals. - [7](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/arts/19-street-art-and-graffiti-legal-walls-vs-vandalism/7/) — Writing or spraying on property without permission is vandalism; someone has to pay to clean it, often the town using taxes, and getting caught can mean fines or worse. - [8](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/arts/19-street-art-and-graffiti-legal-walls-vs-vandalism/8/) — Some cities have legal walls, also called free walls, where graffiti is allowed, and the paintings change quickly. - [9](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/arts/19-street-art-and-graffiti-legal-walls-vs-vandalism/9/) — Banksy is a British street artist whose name and face are kept secret; his stencils often joke about war, money and power. - [10](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/arts/19-street-art-and-graffiti-legal-walls-vs-vandalism/10/) — In 2018 one of Banksy's paintings partly shredded itself right after it sold at auction. - [11](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/arts/19-street-art-and-graffiti-legal-walls-vs-vandalism/11/) — Since 2014, and especially after 2022, many murals in Ukrainian cities show hope, heroes and national symbols; Banksy painted several works in and around Kyiv in 2022. - [12](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/arts/19-street-art-and-graffiti-legal-walls-vs-vandalism/12/) — In graffiti slang, bombing means spraying lots of tags quickly, usually illegally; it has nothing to do with real bombs. - [13](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/arts/19-street-art-and-graffiti-legal-walls-vs-vandalism/13/) — Railway lines are deadly: modern trains are fast and quiet, some rails carry deadly electricity, people have died going onto tracks to paint, and trespassing on railways is illegal. - [14](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/arts/19-street-art-and-graffiti-legal-walls-vs-vandalism/14/) — Good murals start with a plan: a sketch, a grid of squares to copy a small picture large, and agreement with the owner. - [15](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/arts/19-street-art-and-graffiti-legal-walls-vs-vandalism/15/) — 3D pavement art uses perspective tricks so a chalk drawing looks deep from one spot; chalk washes away in the rain. - [16](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/arts/19-street-art-and-graffiti-legal-walls-vs-vandalism/16/) — Some graffiti becomes so loved that towns protect it behind glass, while others think all graffiti should go; councils must decide, and opinions are split. - ← previous: [Modern art: "my little brother could do that"](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/arts/18-modern-art-my-little-brother-could-do-that/) - next →: [Photography and phone cameras](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/arts/20-photography-and-phone-cameras/) - ↑ back to [Arts](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/arts/)