Writing on the wall: urban political graffiti from Brexit to Trump – in pictures

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After Banksy’s Brexit-inspired mural depicting the removal of an EU star recently appeared in Dover, we take a look at the world’s most powerful political street art

  • Rome, Italy


    A mural appeared on 11 May showing Pope Francis kissing Donald Trump near Castel Sant’Angelo in central Rome ahead of the US president’s visit
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    A collage shows Pope Francis kissing US President Donald Trump on May 11, 2017 near Castel Sant’Angelo in central Rome

  • Dover, UK


    Banksy’s latest mural appeared on Monday as his first comment on the UK’s decision to leave the EU. The Brexit-inspired piece appeared near the port of Dover depicting a man chiselling away at a star on the EU flag. Although, much like Brexit Britain, the mural’s future is uncertain – the owners of the building have said it might be removed and sold
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    Banksy Brexit Mural Appears Near The Port Of DoverMay 8, 2017

  • Athens, Greece


    Recent work by the artist Bleeps in central Athens reads ‘Bid! a few items left on sale’. It appeared in May, Greece and its creditors issued a preliminary deal on pension and tax cuts, ending a troubled chapter on fiscal reforms. In 2016, Greece’s debt stood at nearly €315bn
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    A man walks past a political graffiti in central Athens by artist Bleeps

  • Vilnius, Lithuania


    A mural of US president Donald Trump and Russian president Vladimir Putin ‘shotgunning’ a marijuana joint on the wall of a barbecue van in Vilnius. Further along the wall it reads ‘make everything great again’
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    Mural of Trump and Putin in Lithuania

  • Frankfurt, Germany


    A mural by Justus Becker and Oguz Sen depicts the drowned Syrian refugee boy Alan Kurdi by the Main river, near the European Central Bank HQ in 2016. It was created to highlight the plight of refugees, and could be seen by thousands of weekday commuters. ‘We are very sad about the children dying and we are angry,’ Becker, known as COR, told Reuters
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    graffiti by artists Justus Becker and Oguz Sen depicts the drowned Syrian refugee boy Alan Kurdi

  • Lisbon, Portugal


    Graffiti depicting German chancellor Angela Merkel handling string puppets of Portuguese prime minister Pedro Passos Coelho and foreign minister Paulo Portas in Lisbon. Merkel was supportive of Portugal’s sweeping austerity cuts as part of a drive to honour a significant bailout loan in 2012
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    Graffiti of Angela Merkel in Lisbon

  • Tehran, Iran


    Back in 2006, an artist created anti-US graffiti depicting the Statue of Liberty as death on the wall of the former US embassy in Tehran
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    Anti-US graffiti on the wall of the former US embassy in Tehran

  • Simferopol, Crimea


    A boy stands by a wall depicting Putin in the Crimean city of Simferopol in 2015. The Ukrainian peninsula had been taken over by Russia a year earlier
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    A boy stands by a wall sprayed with a graffiti depicting Russia’s President Vladimir Putin in the Crimean city of Simferopol on September 1, 2015

  • Abu Dis, Palestine


    Banksy’s artwork is seen on the West Bank barrier in Abu Dis in 2005. On this trip to the Palestinian territories he created nine images on the wall bordering Israel and the West Bank
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    Banksy’s artwork is seen on the West Bank barrier in Abu Dis

  • Berlin, Germany


    A mural by Dmitri Vrubel depicts the Soviet Union’s Communist party general secretary Leonid Brezhnev, kissing and East German Socialist party general secretary Erich Honecker. The words in Russian read: ‘My God, help me to survive this deadly love.’ It is perhaps the most famous mural of the Cold War. The image is found on the East Side Gallery, a section of the former Berlin wall
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    Mural in Berlin: ‘My God, Help Me to Survive This Deadly Love.'

  • Belfast, Northern Ireland


    A loyalist paramilitary mural in Belfast photographed on the day that the new Loyalist Community Council was launched in October 2015
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    Loyalist paramilitary mural, Belfast

  • London, UK


    Another of Banksy’s pieces from 2008 in Islington, north London, depicts children gathering around a flagpole with a Tesco carrier bag. It was interpreted as the artist backing London councils’ call to ban free plastic bags
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    Artwork in North London by Banksy

  • New York City, US


    Back when Barack Obama was campaigning for his first presidential election, graffiti and street art depicting the soon-to-be president spread throughout New York City. Here, a poster from 2008 depicts him dressed Superman
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    Obama Street Art in NYC

  • Caracas, Venezuela


    A mural of Venezuela’s late president Hugo Chavez is found in Catia, a slum in Caracas. The Venezuelan government commissioned collectives of graffiti artists to plaster the city in murals that promoted the Bolivarian revolution and Chavez’s socialist political agenda
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    Hugo Chavez’s Red Revolution Machine mural

  • New York City, US


    Hanksy’s Dump Trump mural was one of the most recognisable anti-Trump artworks during the election campaign. ‘The mural was a joke and so was Trump. Unfortunately the punchline never came and it’s scary as hell,’ Hansky said in a statement. The mural was erased early this year by the building’s owners – though Hansky has said he’d happily paint it again
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    Mural by street artist Hanksy depicting Trump
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