Cancel Culture?

Based on the observation that around 2021/2022, left-wing movements and activists were increasingly defamed with accusations of cancel culture, I examine in the photo series Cancel Culture? the extent to which so-called buffing, i.e., the removal and painting over of graffiti, can be understood as part of a (right-wing) conservative cancel culture. My aim is not to provide a concrete answer, but rather to document and raise questions: How are buffing and the right to freedom of expression related? Are cultural discourses being suppressed under the guise of public order? Are publicly accessible cultural assets being removed from public space? Is plurality of opinion being suppressed? Who owns public space and where do the boundaries of public space end? I also ask questions about the aesthetics of public space: Is painted-over graffiti really more aesthetic than the graffiti itself?