When you think of senior citizens, entering their autumnal years and giving up work, what comes to mind? Intrepid travellers, who are finally going on that round-the-world-trip? Your Uncle Rupert who has decided to go back to university to get a Masters degree? Or perhaps your Aunt Clare who is going to start her fifth career as a florist. We found this short film that tells the story of a different kind of pensioner. She’s decided to use her retirement years to become a graffiti artist.

Irmela Mensah-Schramm is a 71-year-old Berliner. She makes it her day-to-day business to address hate messages sprayed on walls by removing and altering them with her own tagging style. On any given day she’ll transform a swastika with a flick of her spraypaint can into a heart-shaped symbol of love, or else she will use nail varnish remover to peel away offensive hate speech stickered on walls and lampposts.

This Big Story clip takes a deeper look at what drives this graffiti grandma.  “After visiting a concentration camp for the first time, Schramm was moved to do her part to build a better future. Today, she’s removed over 77,500 neo-Nazi stickers all over Germany, and she has no intentions of stopping.”