For some reason, I am always drawn to taking pictures of graffiti, especially when it's covering buildings or statues that symbolize an older, purer time in a nation's history.


Is tagging your name all over places like these a sign of disrespect for the past, or is it one that tries to wake people up to the fact that the present is what really matters? In other words, is it disillusioned youth saying to the world, "Don't forget us; we are here; we aren't going anywhere..."?


It's ironic -- what the older generations view as a desecration of art and craftsmanship, many in the succeeding generations clearly see differently. To the kids I've seen all over Europe wearing Vans skate shoes, tying their matted hair into ponytails and listening to Western rock music, graffiti is art and craftmanship. Rather than showing disrespect to those who came before them, they're simply carrying the torch of their forefathers into a new age.