POLITICALLY charged graffiti on the old woolstore in Elder Place will be allowed to stay under Fremantle city council’s street art policy.

Since last year the council has been allowing graffiti it likes to stay up, instead of ordering that it be painted over.

This piece depicts a soldier standing over a woman, then enters the third dimension with a woman’s figure crushed under a pile of rubble at his feet, reaching out to offer the soldier flowers.

The pair stands on a background of the Palestinian flag, painted over the previous “disabled vessel” signal.

• An arm emerges from the rubble.

Community development director Marisa Spaziani and council public art expert Corine Van Hall decided to let this one stay.

Mayor Brad Pettitt says since the policy was introduced last year about a dozen artworks have been spared from oblivion. Police initially opposed the policy, fearing it’d draw vandals to the area.

But Dr Pettitt says he’s “very happy” with the way the policy’s worked, “and the other thing that’s been interesting is the way that tagging and other graffiti has dropped”.

“There were some fears there’d be an increase in that, and we’ve actually seen a decrease by getting people to focus on quality street art.”

by DAVID BELL