How long does street art usually last?

Unpermitted work often disappears within days to a few months, while commissioned murals can last several years. Neither is permanent: council removal, ultraviolet fading, building demolition and other artists painting over the wall all remove work regardless of how it was made.

Why is overcast weather better for photographing murals?

Direct sunlight throws hard shadows across a wall and reflects off glossy spray paint, washing the colour out. The even light of a cloudy day lights the whole surface uniformly and keeps fluorescent colours much closer to how they look in person.

What should you do when you do not know the artist?

Record it as artist unknown rather than guessing. Note the signature in the corner, any recurring character, and the date and location, so someone else can identify it later. A record carrying the wrong name is worse than no attribution at all.

Can you post photographs of street art you find in the street?

As a general rule the artwork is the artist’s copyright and the photograph is the photographer’s. Personal photography and sharing is rarely an issue, but commercial use needs the artist’s permission, and rules on photographing works in public space differ between countries.

Graffiti News

Street art disappears. Here is how to record it properly

2026년 8월 26일 오전 02:320

Street art is made on the assumption that it will not last. Some walls survive for years, but most work in the street does not see out a season. Once it is gone, the only remaining version is whatever someone photographed. Documentation is the preservation.

Why walls disappear so fast

Buffing: councils and building owners paint over the wall or pressure-wash it off. This is the most common cause by a wide margin.
Weather: spray paint loses colour under ultraviolet light, and moisture behind brick and concrete lifts the paint off the surface.
Redevelopment: the buildings that get painted are usually the old ones, and old buildings are the ones that get demolished.
Going over: a good wall gets repainted. The next piece arriving is the culture working as intended, not a failure of it.

Commissioned murals are not safe either. A building changes hands or the façade needs repair, and the wall goes regardless of any agreement.

Shoot square-on, in flat light

Square-on. Shooting at an angle distorts the letter proportions. Graffiti is a form built on the balance of letterforms, so a skewed photograph misrepresents the work. Back off as far as the street allows and keep the camera plane parallel to the wall. In a narrow alley, several overlapping frames beat one wide-angle shot.

Overcast. Direct sun throws hard shadows across the surface and blows out colour where glossy spray paint reflects it. The even light of a cloudy day is the best light for walls. On a clear day, shoot early morning or the hour before sunset.

Expose for the colour. Fluorescents are what fail most often in wall photography. Fluorescent pink and yellow clip easily, so pull the exposure down slightly to keep the bright areas from flattening out.

Photograph the street, not just the wall

Leave at least three frames of the same wall.

The full shot: the whole piece, nothing cropped off.
The context shot: the street it sits on, the neighbouring building, the road. This is what lets anyone place it later.
The detail shot: the signature, cap marks, where colours overlap. This frame is what settles the question of who painted it.

The context shot is the dullest photograph and the one that stays useful the longest.

The location and date can matter more than the photo

After a couple of years, "where was this?" becomes the most common problem in any archive. Four things are worth writing down immediately: the date, the city and neighbourhood, exact coordinates if you have them, and the condition of the wall — freshly painted, already tagged over, or partly buffed.

Phones attach location data automatically, but most social platforms strip it on upload. Recording the location separately is the safer habit. Posting to Wallscape keeps the photograph, the coordinates and the date together on the map: upload it here, and it joins everything else recorded in that neighbourhood on the map.

Credit the artist, or say you do not know

Most work is signed. A tag in the corner, an Instagram handle, a recurring character are all identifiers. When it is legible, write it down exactly as it appears.

When it is not legible, do not guess. Attaching a well-known name because the style looks similar is the fastest way to corrupt a record. An entry marked "artist unknown" with an accurate date and location is worth far more than an entry with the wrong name on it.

Manners while shooting

Do not enter private property. Behind a fence, inside a building site, inside an abandoned building — that is trespass, not photography. If you meet an artist mid-piece, ask before you shoot; many do not want their face in the frame. If a passer-by is prominent in the picture, think again before posting it.

Who owns the photograph

As a general rule the mural itself is the artist's copyright, and the photograph is the photographer's. Taking and sharing personal photographs is rarely an issue, but commercial use — merchandise, advertising, stock licensing — needs the artist's permission. How far you may photograph and publish copyrighted work in public space, often called freedom of panorama, differs from country to country, so check the rules where you are before any commercial use.