A well-established research line in structural and algorithmic graph theory is characterizing graph classes by listing their minimal obstructions. When this list is finite for some class $\mathcal C$ we obtain a polynomial-time algorithm for recognizing graphs in $\mathcal C$, and from a logic point of view, having finitely many obstructions corresponds to being definable by a universal sentence. However, in many cases we study classes with infinite sets of minimal obstructions, and this might have neither algorithmic nor logic implications for such a class. Some decades ago, Skrien (1982) and Damaschke (1990) introduced finite expressions of graph classes by means of forbidden orientations and forbidden linear orderings, and recently, similar research lines appeared in the literature, such as expressions by forbidden circular orders, by forbidden tree-layouts, and by forbidden edge-coloured graphs. In this paper, we introduce local expressions of graph classes; a general framework for characterizing graph classes by forbidden equipped graphs. In particular, it encompasses all research lines mentioned above, and we provide some new examples of such characterizations. Moreover, we see that every local expression of a class $\mathcal C$ yields a polynomial-time certification algorithm for graphs in $\mathcal C$. Finally, from a logic point of view, we show that being locally expressible corresponds to being definable in the logic SNP introduced by Feder and Vardi (1999).