Athens, Graffiti City.

“More than ever, the walls began to tell the disarray,
the revolt and the hopes of a traumatized city … “

Exarchia district -Athens – Greece.

Athens – Greece.

Crossing the Exarchia quarter in Athens we leave ancient Greece, the grace of the Venus de Milo, the gigantic marble columns of the Parthenon still standing on the acropolis, and one enters at the same time a delirium of paintings, and of graffiti.

Exarchia district -Athens – Greece.

In this quarter is the anarchist heart of Greece. Anarchists, foreigners, families, students, intellectuals and artists live here.

Most of the houses have not been renovated for a long time, many facades are crumbling. The police dare not venture into the neighborhood. Exarchia and her graffiti seem to be a synthesis of a generation of frustration, crisis, unemployment, mistrust of the state, with questions and answers.

Exarchia district -Athens – Greece.

Here one must walk carefully and avoid the furniture and various objects that are thrown through the windows. So I learned quickly to shave the walls rather than using the middle of the streets. The syringes for the morning shoot are already ready for sale, lined up on dirty staircases overlooking the sidewalk.

“The walls speak: tags, graffiti, murals, stencils and posters have redesigned the cityscape, making the city one of the capital cities of street art (like Brookling in New York). The phenomenon has taken on an unprecedented scale since the 2008 crisis. More than ever, the walls have begun to relate the disarray, revolt and hopes of a city traumatized by an enduring economic and social crisis. Political by nature, urban art obviously existed before the crisis. “