Finnish Graffiti - Riihimaki Jaards part 1

Graffiti landed in Finland around 1984, at the same time when hip hop and breakdance arrived. In 1988 the City of Helsinki made graffiti legal and painted the city walls with beautiful graffiti. The popularity of graffiti increased and soon after the city walls, as well as all the other walls suitable for graffiti, were full of tags and pieces from writers competing with each other. 10 years later the first graffiti book in Finland was published, called "Helsinki Graffiti". At the same time the City of Helsinki, keeping a focus on the "year 2000 Cultural Capital" event, established a project called "Stop Töhry", which literally meant that all graffiti in Helsinki was to be wiped out. Later this project was introduced to other major cities as well, with good results. The actions against graffiti meant big business for cleaning companies as well as for the security companies. Graffiti went underground and the war for its survival had begun...