Au nom du nom

From the engravings of Pompeii to those of tourists on ancient ruins, cacti, trees and other anonymous surfaces, humanity was born a tagger. But graffiti is an energy that emerges only to disappear. What remains? Traces and wounds, to steal Henri Michaux’s words.

Gathering together forty five international artists, both established and emerging, In the Name of the Name – The Sensitive Surfaces of Graffiti is an intimate archive featuring all kinds of photography: atmospheric, action, pictorial and even police photography. From Los Angeles to Paris, passing through London and Sao Paulo, the book reveals the flipside of graffiti, or all that which the citylife tries to conceal.

In the Name of the Name is not a book about graffiti photography, on the contrary – it discloses how the graffiti scene was deeply permeated by photography. Graffiti is a feeling, an affect, an attitude, a modus operandi. It is a mental, obsessive and physical relationship with everything marginal. Graffiti is an early form of writing, rooted in prehistorical times and childhood years.

In this book, Hugo Vitrani brings together works and quotes by BANDO, Patrick Bona, Brassaï, Martine Barrat, Sophie Bramly, André Cadere, Miriam Cahn, Sophie Calle, Gusmano Cesaretti, Henry Chalfant, Martha Cooper, Bruce Davidson, John Divola, David Douard, Mathias Enard, ENERI, Stanislas Fuzi Baritaux, Pablo Jomaron, JR, Lisa Kahane, Tseng Kwong Chi, Mierle Laderman Ukeles, Zoe Leonard, Maï Lucas, Tala Madani, Hans Leo Maes, Silvio Magaglio, Ari Marcopoulos, MATTA, Gordon Matta-Clark, Barry McGee, MODE2, Tania Mouraud, Yoshi Omori, Jill Posener, Alexander Raczka, Jay Ramier, les Frères Ripoulin, SAEIO, Marion Scemana, Jamel Shabbazz, SKKi©, Melchior Tersen, Pablo Tomek, Toni, Monique Wittig, Fabrice Yencko and Gérard Zlotykamien.