God Save Us Vandals / God Saved Us Vandals

A prayer spray-painted on a wall — two versions, one word changed, one meaning inverted.

God Save Us Vandals is a two-version work created by artist Neve in 2009 in Corte Regina, Milan.

Two versions of the same wall. Same figure, same place, different moment — and one word changed. The first version: a young woman with angel wings, crouched and cornered, her wings torn and bleeding. A machine gun mounted on the wall beside her, the word "NEVE" written on the barrel. In red dripping letters: "GOD SAVE US VANDALS." A prayer. Present tense. The vandals need saving. The second version, painted later: the wings are white and whole, no longer bleeding. The gun still hangs on the wall, but a rose has grown from it. And the text has shifted: "GOD SAVED US VANDALS." Past tense. It already happened. They were saved. The difference between the two paintings is a single letter — "save" becomes "saved" — and yet everything changes. The wound closes. The wings heal. The prayer is answered by the simple fact of having survived it. Painted at Corte Regina in Milan in 2009, during what Neve describes as one of the most beautiful periods of his life — a time when everything was still possible.