I've just been looking at The Wooster Collective Website, which is interesting especially if you like Banksy or anti-capitalist revolution stuff. That's beside the point though because what's interesting is that on there I saw a link to The Iranian Underground Art Network. Personally I see graffiti as a campaigning tool, something you do in anger, as a protest - it has far more power and impact when the person creating it has something to say but has no where else to say it. Graffiti that I see in London frustrates me, its self indulgent and ego-ridden, people graffiti because it's part of their image and lifestyle and so the images they make a more boring than decorative tea towels. In Iran, however, they've got stuff to be seriously angry about, they have no where else to express their ideas. The images they produce document the fear and danger they go through when creating them. The image is of Sadiq Hidayat stencilled onto the walls of buildings in Tehran by an Iranian graffiti artist. Sadiq Hidayat is one of the most significant figures in Persian literature. He wrote a book called The Blind Owl, which in the present climate in Iran can be seen as revolutionary and anti Islamic. The book has lots of references to the life of Buddha and relates significantly to Zoroastrianism. Sadiq Hidayat represents an open, tolerant Iran and to paint his image on the walls of the capital city is extremely subversive and in my opinion much more interesting than Banksy's rats.  ¶ 1:10 AM