Graffiti started covering the walls of Tahrir Square in Cairo and other urban areas in Egypt's governorates during the January 25 Revolution and the period that followed. The murals documented the unfolding events of the revolution and voiced the people’s demands of freedom and democracy.

Today, seven years later, the drawings and slogans are gone. The famous murals that once covered the walls of downtown Cairo, namely the graffiti on Mohammed Mahmoud Street, have been cleaned up. The protests these murals depicted have been wiped out gradually, almost as an attempt to erase the revolution from the people’s memory.

According to Article 361 of the Egyptian Penal Code, deliberate damage or destruction of fixed or movable property is punishable with imprisonment and a fine depending on the nature and graveness of the damage. Egyptian security forces have many arrested graffiti and street artists since the January 25 Revolution. According to data released by the Association of Freedom of Thought and Expression, an Egyptian organization established in 2006 by a group of lawyers and researchers to defend freedom of expression, at least 22 street artists have been arrested over the past seven years.

However, June 30, 2013, was a turning point for the graffiti art of many Egyptian artists.