One of my first impressions of Auckland, NZ was how clean it was and how little graffiti I saw. Every now and then I’d spot an odd tag or two but, for the most part, graffiti seemed to take the form of larger, more organized murals. A little research since I’ve been home reveals that the city had undertaken a large-scale cleanup prior to the Rugby World Cup. Most graffiti was painted over but murals that had the permission of the property owners were spared, for the most part.

To some degree, the authorities seem to even sponsor graffiti as seen in this campaign for recruiting police officers (more here):

My favorite piece of art was one that I found in St Kevins’ Arcade — a building on the city’s funky K Road that has a walkway through to Myers Park. Here’s one small section of it:

According to Long White Cloud, this piece is the work of Cut Collective and is a recent addition to the street art scene in Auckland.