AUTOGRAFI DI ROMA Fieldwork in Rome

My urban exploration of Roman graffiti and wall inscriptions turned into a series of performative image-making happenings full of unanticipated events, surprises and suspense.

Whenever I spotted a suitable graffiti to record, I grabbed a compactible sheet of papier-mâché to cover the inscription, and from that point on, the work proceeded haphazardly and blindly.

Sometimes the pressure of the pencil revealed rubbings that I otherwise would not have noticed, and vice versa, an inscription that at first seemed clearly discernible, would just not render itself on the substrate due to uneven wall surface or a too fragile sheet of paper.

There were also instances when the work was suddenly interrupted by outer circumstances such as traffic, officious policemen, suspicious local inhabitants or a furious vagrant.