Graffiti Taxonomy: Paris, 2009…

A study depicting the stylistic diversity found in Parisian graffiti tags. Now on display at Fondation Cartier’s Born In The Streets – Graffiti exhibition until November 29, 2009.

Over 2,400 graffiti tags were photographed from April 24 to April 28, 2009, from each of Paris’s 20 districts. All photographs were archived, tagged and sorted by letter. The ten most commonly used letters by Paris graffiti writers were identified for further study (A,E,I,K,N,O,R,S,T and U). From each letter grouping, eighteen tags were isolated to represent the diversity and range of that specific character. These sets are not intended to display the “best” graffiti tags in Paris, but rather aim to highlight the diversity of forms ranging from upper case to lowercase, simple to complex and legible to cryptic. For more information go here.

Facade:

More photos can be viewed here

Print:

AEIOU – Official poster for the exhibition.

Web:

(Photo yanked from vanderlin)

New interactive version of Graffiti Taxonomy up at: fondation.cartier.com

Graffiti Taxonomy: Paris, 2009 was made possible by the production and design consulting contributions of Robert F. Houlihan, programming and interactivity of Todd Vanderlin, the invitation and support of everyone at Fondation Cartier and the inspiring work of the hundreds of graffiti writers in Paris who’s work I photographed.