Scratching the Surface Project

Coining his signature style in 2007, VHILS (Alexandre Farto) uses dynamite and a chisel to create his paintless-portraits. In the decade prior, he was a prolific graffiti writer. The bas-relief portraiture he now creates across the globe is a visually arresting form of poetry. By digging through layers of concrete, cement and other building materials, VHILS exposes the old wounds of a wall and transforms them into something beautiful - a unique method which has carved VHILS a permanent place of his own in contemporary art.

This piece from Nuart’s 2011 festival is unusual, as the artist mostly works with portraiture. In this now obsolete work, we get a glimpse into a rare piece from VHILS that does not feature flesh, only bone.