Graffiti
People have been writing on walls for as long as there have been walls. Roman scratchings at Pompeii, Norse runes cut into Hagia Sophia by bored guardsmen, medieval names in church plaster, Kilroy travelling with an army, and then the modern practice: Philadelphia in the late 1960s, the New York subway, and from there almost everywhere. The archive follows the surfaces and the tools as much as the names, and it keeps the parts that usually get left out, including the buff that removes the work and the galleries that sell it. Most of what is here was illegal when it was made. That is recorded rather than argued about, and writers appear by the tags they chose rather than by names they did not publish.
A chronological documentary of 1,563 moments spanning 350 BC–2026 on Loreline.
Curated by Olivier · last updated 2026-09-20
Eras
- Ancient, Inscription before the modern practice: Pompeii, Ephesus and the classical world, where the impulse to write on a wall is already fully formed.
- Medieval, Islamic conquests, Norman invasion, Crusades, Mongols, Hundred Years' War, Reconquista. The medieval centuries that produced the polities Europe would carry into modernity.
- Kilroy, The wartime inscription that travelled with armies, and the wall writing of the mid twentieth century.
- Philadelphia, Where the modern practice begins. Cornbread and the writers around him were working in the late 1960s, before New York became the centre.
- Subway, New York trains and the system they ran on, through the 1970s and 80s.
- Wildstyle, Letterform as the actual subject: the styles built to be read by other writers.
- Trains, Rolling stock as a surface, from the subway era to freights and European lines.
- Cans, The tools. Paint, caps and markers, and how the hardware shaped the line.
- Buff, Removal, cleaning and repainting, which is as much a part of the record as the work itself.
- Stencils, Cut and sprayed work, and the stencil as a way of repeating an image.
- Murals, Large-scale and commissioned wall painting, including the programmes built to redirect writers into sanctioned work.
- Galleries, The move indoors: exhibitions, auctions and the commercial afterlife of an illegal practice.
- Documentation, The photographers and filmmakers whose work is the reason most of this survives at all.
- Berlin, The city, and why it suited this music. Not a birth: UFO was running in the West from 1988 and Frankfurt had a techno club from 1984. What the Wall's fall supplied was space, a vacant middle of a city with power still connected and nobody clearly holding the deeds. Mitte and Friedrichshain, the vault, the power station, the squats, the river, Hard Wax, and the closures and rent rises that keep taking rooms back. In March 2024 "Techno Culture in Berlin" was added to Germany's national inventory of intangible cultural heritage, administered by the German UNESCO Commission, which is not the same as UNESCO's international list however the headlines ran it.
- Pichacao, The Sao Paulo tradition of tall angular lettering climbed onto building faces, distinct from anything in the American record.
- Europe, European scenes beyond Berlin: Paris, London and the continental networks.
- Global, 2002–2014. First World Cup in Asia, first in Africa. Zidane's headbutt. Germany 7-1 Brazil. The Women's World Cup audience grows beyond the USA. Spain's tiki-taka peak.
- Now, Contemporary skating, from the current professional circuit to what happens in a car park on a Tuesday.
- - 6003 - Venezia - Arsenale - Scritta runica su leone greco (1040) - Foto Giovanni Dall'Orto, 3-Aug-2007. Runic inscription on the shoulder of the lion standing at the left side of the monumental entrance of the Arsenale in Venice. It is an Ancient Greek sculpture, originally at the Piraeus in Athens, brought to Venice by Francesco Morosini, who conquered the Peloponnesus. The inscription was scratched in 1040 by Viking mercenaries, serving the Byzantine emperor, sent to Athens to crush a revolt against taxation..
- - 193 - Kilroy was Here! The fall of Tunis - WW2 - May 7, 1943. The wartime inscription and where it travelled, running 17 min. Footage from 1943.
- - 1960s, 1970s New York Street Art, Murals, 16mm. Painted trains and the system they ran on, running 1 min.
- - REMEMBERING RAMMELLZEE 1960-2010 RIP. Filmed or photographed documentation of the culture, running 6 min. Footage from 1960.
- - Lee Quinones Graffiti Art, Late 1970s New York | Premium. New York subway writing, running 1 min.
- - 1970s-2000s SPECIAL REPORT: "NEW YORK CITY"(PART IV). Material from the subway era, running 33 min.
- - 1970s Subway Trains, New York, Graffiti. Material from the subway era, running 1 min.
- - 1970s New York Graffiti Art. New York subway writing, running 1 min. Kept by Kinolibrary.
- - Old New York....Then in 1970 came Graffiti....❤️😍. New York subway writing, running 1 min. Footage from 1970.
- - Gritty New York Graffiti, 1970s in HD from 35mm. A record made by the people who documented it, running 3 min.
- - NYC Subway Graffiti - 1970's. New York subway writing, running 25 min.
- - Graffiti Subway Trains, 1970s New York | Kinolibrary. Material from the subway era, running 2 min.
- - 1970s Gritty New York, Handball, Graffiti. New York subway writing, running 3 min.
- - New York 1970s Public Transport, graffiti tags on trains. Trains as a surface, running 1 min.
- - NY Subway Jam 1970s - Graffiti free IND-BMT-SIRT 720p. Material from the subway era, running 5 min.
- - Mid 1970's New York subway graffiti history! Legendary CLIFF 159 3YB commentary! Historical. Painted trains and the system they ran on, running 5 min.
- - Graffiti in Gritty New York, 1970s in HD from 35mm. A record made by the people who documented it, running 2 min.
- - The South Bronx New York Early 1973 - Graffiti & Street Scenes. Painted trains and the system they ran on, running 2 min. Footage from 1973.
- - New York Subway 1976, 1984, 1990 Graffiti and all, COMPLETE VERSION Part silent movie. Painted trains and the system they ran on, running 25 min. Footage from 1976.
- - Watching my name go by - 1976 New York City Graffiti Documentary HD. Material from the subway era, running 26 min. Footage from 1976.
- - New York subway graffiti History....1976 (edit). New York subway writing, running 4 min. Footage from 1976.
- - Keith Haring - Subway Drawing (circa 1980). Writing moved indoors, into galleries and the market, running 1 min. Footage from 1980.
- - NYC subway graffiti special on CBS News show called "30 Minutes" 1980. New York subway writing, running 11 min. Footage from 1980.
- - 1982 Gritty New York, Train with Graffiti Passing. Filmed or photographed documentation of the culture, running 1 min. Footage from 1982.
- - Footage of the Berlin Wall 1982 ('Bike is Over'). Material from the Berlin scene, running 29 min. Footage from 1982.
- - Wild Style DVD Trailer. A record made by the people who documented it, running 2 min. Footage from 1983.
- - Jean-Michel Basquiat Interview about Graffiti (1983). Writing moved indoors, into galleries and the market, running 2 min. Footage from 1983.
- - Wild Style | Official Trailer | Coming soon | 4K. Filmed or photographed documentation of the culture, running 2 min. Footage from 1983.
- - Style Wars (1983) Trailer. A record made by the people who documented it, running 3 min. Footage from 1983.
- - Style Wars 1983. Filmed or photographed documentation of the culture, running 1 min. Footage from 1983.
- - An unusual art gallery, Berlin border 1986. Material from the Berlin scene, running 2 min. Footage from 1986.
- - Keith Haring interviewed by Clare Ann Matz, Pisa, Italy 1988 - TuttoMondo (All the world) mural. Writing moved indoors, into galleries and the market, running 12 min. Footage from 1988.
- - Bombing L.A. 1989 Original Full Length Entire Documentary. A record made by the people who documented it, running 43 min. Footage from 1989.
- - Drawing the Line A Portrait of Keith Haring documentary shown in 1989. Writing moved indoors, into galleries and the market, running 30 min. Footage from 1989.
- - Bombing L A Los Angeles Graffiti Documentary 1990. Filmed or photographed documentation of the culture, running 43 min. Footage from 1990.
- - Keith Haring - Street Artist (May 4, 1958 - Feb 16, 1990). The commercial afterlife of the practice, running 2 min. Footage from 1990.
- - opatov graffiti jam 1995 - trailer. A record made by the people who documented it, running 1 min. Footage from 1995.
- - Graffiti Writing around Italy, year 1997. Writing from a scene outside the usual centres, running 45 min. Footage from 1997.
- - Hope - From 1998 Till Infinity. Work going up recently, running 2 min. Footage from 1998.
- - ‘FX CREW’ (Graffiti Writers Crew) New York, 1998 [RARE full graff art VHS documentary archive]. Filmed or photographed documentation of the culture, running 46 min. Footage from 1998.
- - Saturn Mapping Info Presents Archaeologists discover a 2000 year old love note in pompeii's graffiti. Inscription surviving from antiquity, running 1 min. Footage from 2000.
- - A LETRA E O MURO Documentário 2002 pixo São Paulo LISA - Antropologia Lucas Fretin Pichação Pixação. Pichacao, the Sao Paulo tradition of tall angular lettering, running 34 min. Footage from 2002.
- - Inside Japan’s Underground Hip-Hop Scene in 2003 | Full Documentary. A record made by the people who documented it, running 1h 6m. Footage from 2003.
- - Creative Joule / Dakar 2004 / senegal / Medina - hip hop - Graff - Dj - Geneva. Writing from a scene outside the usual centres, running 5 min. Footage from 2004.
- - Documentário sobre PIXO/ART URBANA Inside Outside street art R&R producer 2005. Sao Paulo writing on record, running 57 min. Footage from 2005.
- - GETTING UP GRAFFITI DOCUMENTARY 2006. A record made by the people who documented it, running 29 min. Footage from 2006.
- - STREET ART IN NEW ZEALAND 2006. International material on record, running 2 min. Footage from 2006.
- - Style Wars - The King of Style. New York subway writing, running 1 min. Kept by flannagan11.
- - A Graffer was arrested in the Westheimer Block Party (II). Removal and cleaning, and what it leaves behind, running 4 min.
- - Rare Uncut CornBread Interview. Philadelphia writing, where the modern practice began, running 8 min.
…and 1,513 more moments.
Full text archive: /loreline-text/graffiti.md
