A Polaroid camera and 100 photos was the means of use for 13 graffiti writers. The result is called Like Lipstick Traces, a book exploring every-day life in a different way.
A statue of Lenin in Russia, a sex act in the streets of Paris, the grave of Bruce Lee in Seattle and football hooligans in Neapels. As a part of a graffiti writers day is to explore the city and the world, so does their photos. The 13 graffiti writers in Like Lipstick Traces are among the most prominent in the world. It is an international constellation from cities like New York, London, Sao Paolo, Copenhagen and Berlin. And the more than 600 photos they’ve shot gives a quick glimpse into their secret worlds. Aroe from London shows children sleeping in the streets of Bucharest, graffiti actions and huge amounts of cash. Berlin based collective C.B.S. takes us through cities like Ljubjana, Rome, Lisbon and Prague, Dumbo from Milan is more personal with his friends posing as motifs, while Paris native O’clock shows the uncensored streets of his city. The use of the almost extinct Polaroid photography only boost the feeling of catching the moment and gives the pictures a personal touch. Reading Like Lipstick Traces is like looking through some ones personal photo album. It makes the reader want to go explore on his own. To see the small things around us and to preserve it. Like Lipstick Traces is a different and unique book about graffiti, life and the worlds of explorers. The short texts about the artists gives an idea about their personalities. They go their own way, refusing to follow any other than their own path. Dumbo even shot his entire series of photos with the camera upside down. A world overturned.
