SDG 16 - Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions
- 2022-12-22
- Janna Degener-Storr
Graffiti that turns hatred into art
A celebrated YouTube video shows the creative way in which graffiti artists from Berlin address hateful scribbles.
Graffiti on building walls does not only give rise to costs. Graffiti can also spread hatred. One example of this are swastikas on building walls in Berlin that represent racist ideology.
The graffiti shop owner and artist Ibraham ‘Ibo’ Omari has found his own language to address this. While other pedestrians will walk past a swastika symbol shaking their head, he and other artists simply turn swastikas into graffiti that makes people smile. A video on shows the many ideas Ibo Omari and his friends have come up with to do so: a swastika can be transformed into a flower, a mosquito or a cute cat by a window.
In an he talked about how he had this idea following a conversation with a socially committed customer in his graffiti shop: ‘He explained to me that he wanted to use the two spray cans to cover a swastika in a playground.’ He continued: ‘I went to the playground with him and offered that our association “Die kulturellen Erben e.V.” could take care of this.’
This initiative by graffiti artists from Berlin is now called #Paint-Back. Citizens occasionally contact the association to report further swastikas that need to be covered up.