Reverse graffiti, also known as clean tagging, dust tagging, grime writing, clean graffiti, green graffiti or clean advertising, is a method of creating temporary or semi-permanent images on walls or other surfaces by removing dirt from a surface.

This creative and environmentally friendly practice involves creating public art as well. Also adopted for commercial advertisement service (private purposes). Labelled as “Legal Graffiti”, it has been legitimated for commercial projects, as well  as for artistic ones (in some cases).

Theory that underpins the intervention is:

• It is possible to decorate urban spaces using materials originated from unlikely sources, like grime and dirt. This can be adopted as a new form of visual communication, in both commercial and artistic scale.

Strengths :

• Cost effective, as it doesn’t involve money for the materials to apply.
• It can inspire always different local communities according to the area chosen for the installation.

Limitations:

• Its strength and specification is only applicable on a short term future. In fact, on a medium and long term, the dirt and grime will cover the surface again, deleting though the artwork.
• Lack of evaluation method to assess its efficacy and success.