Books^Double-H EINE STADT WIRD BUNT. Hamburg Graffiti History 1980 – 1999

The book “A CITY BECOMES COLOURFUL. Hamburg Graffiti History 1980-1999” is a comprehensive documentation of the emergence of the Hamburg graffiti scene. On 560 pages, the picture-text volume traces in detail how a graffiti scene slowly developed in the Hanseatic city from the beginning of the 1980s. Over 1,300 photos show graffiti pioneers and their works. Texts allow contemporary witnesses to speak and shed light on the social and cultural circumstances that contributed to the emergence of the subculture in Hamburg. The majority of the over 1,000 images – most of them previously unpublished – are amateur photos from the scene’s private archives, including many photos that document the artist’s own work. However, the book is not limited to just showing the graffiti artists and their works. Text contributions address the question of how and in what social context graffiti came into being in Hamburg. A CITY BECOMES COLOURFUL. looks behind the scenes of a notoriously secretive scene and tells the story of how it came into being in its contemporary historical context. The book invites you to take a new look: at the role and significance of subculture in general and the phenomenon of “graffiti” in particular, as well as at Hamburg as one of the early “graffiti cities” in Germany. 560 pages. Over 1300 color and black and white illustrations. Language: German with additional English texts. 32 x 25 x 5 cm 3.5 kg.