When does graffiti become part of history and the heritage of a building? It is an issue two Oamaru men are grappling with.
Oamaru lawyer Bill Dean is upset a 30-year-old piece of graffiti in memory of the death of the Irish Republican Army's Bobby Sands in Maze Prison, Northern Ireland, after a hunger strike has been removed from the Oamaru stone wall of the Loan and Mercantile Building in Oamaru's historic precinct.
But Phil Hope, chairman of the Oamaru Whitestone Civic Trust, the owner of the building, has defended the move, actioned after complaints were received.
Bobby Sands was the first IRA hunger striker to die in 1981.
Not long after, someone painted the slogan ''Bobby Sands Lives On!'' on the Oamaru building. An image of it was included in a painting by North Otago artist Burns Pollock that Mr Dean has hanging in his law practice.
''It was remarkable that from such a long way away, Bobby Sands' death and the issue of republicanism in North Ireland should make its presence felt in Oamaru,'' Mr Dean said.
However, a few weeks ago he was told the slogan had been removed, which made him angry because, after such a long time, it had become part of the landscape of the area and the history of the Loan and Mercantile Building, he said.
''It was not some idiot tagger's effort with a spray can simply as a means of identifying themselves - not some idiotic scribbling with no meaning or purpose,'' he said.
''It was a political slogan put there by someone who felt strongly about Sands' death.
''I could understand if, in the days following it being put there, somebody had decided to remove it.
''It stayed there for 30 years. It became a talking point, something of an icon to some, and I, for one, cannot recall anybody who spoke to me objecting to it,'' he said.
Mr Dean said he raised the removal with Mr Hope, who told him there had been complaints and the trust had removed it.
''That was the entire point. Was this particular slogan provocative? Very much so! Had it, by virtue of time, become part of the many stories surrounding the area? I think it had.''
Mr Dean believed the slogan had become an important part of the historic precinct's history and he doubted the trust had had a mandate to remove it.
''In my view, it is a great shame,'' Mr Dean said.
Mr Hope did not want to comment when contacted yesterday.
