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Internet helps find National Parks graffiti vandal

Internet helps find National Parks graffiti vandal

Social media sleuthing brought down a young criminal.

Starre Vartan

 Beautiful street art graffiti. Abstract creative drawing fashion colors on the walls of the city.

Graffiti can be beautiful and artistic, but it doesn’t belong in our National Parks, where its removal can damage cultural treasures forever. (Photo: A_Lesik)

As a National Parks fangirl, when I heard there was a graffiti artist painting smiley faces in acrylic paint on rocks at Yosemite, Crater Lake, Death Valley and others, I was, like much of internet, outraged. Even though I come from a family of artists and have long considered graffiti an art form, the idea that an artist would use something that belongs to all of us as her personal canvas struck a (very angry) chord. Read more.