While Banksy makes millions, street artists are going to jail.

While Banksy makes millions from his artwork, London’s young graffiti artists are being demonised and imprisoned for expressing themselves in the exact same way as the famed street artist. Some consider graffiti a vital urban art form, while others remain convinced it is nothing more than criminal damage. These mixed views are complicated by the cultural popularity of graffiti; Banksy’s work sells for hundreds of thousands of dollars while news items with strategically positioned journalists in front of ‘cool’ spray-painted backdrops air on television. Even McDonalds has commandeered the use of fake graffiti tags in its attempt to be edgy.

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