Nils Müller

Cologne

After eight years of journeys around the globe, Nils Müller presents Vandals, his second book of photography after his 2009 debut publication Blütezeit.

Vandals takes the illegal and dangerous activity on 192 pages to a more personal level, one that is more detailed and yet, more abstract, too. The photos bear witness to the elaborate level of planning required to carry out the acts. They reveal team spirit as well as heightened emotions and tension, as trainwriters attempt to evade motion detectors and security cameras while scaling barbed wire fences.

If you like to order the limited edition of ‚Vandals‘ (different cover, limited to 500 copies, signed), send an email.

For the normal version, click here.

Vandals is divided into ten chapters. While four of them feature images of various cities such as London, Berlin and Amsterdam, each of the other six chapters focuses on a different city: Paris, Milan, Seoul, Bucharest, Caracas and New York.

Müller takes us so deep into the belly of railway graffiti that we almost feel like we are on site ourselves. Texts introducing each chapter describe Müller’s personal experiences and observations behind the photo series. We join him on journeys through the tunnels of the New York City metro, where graffiti pioneers such as Futura, Revolt and Skeme immortalized themselves nearly thirty years ago. We meet the legendary Mr. Brown from the 156 crew; we flee from police checks and chases. The photographs in VANDALS were captured over the last seven years. They not only visit cities around the world but also introduce us to the main players of global trainwriting, including Same, Pilchi, Atom, Motiv, Creme, MOSES & TAPS™, Luce, F-ups, and All and Moa.

Nils Müller is a former graffiti artist who taught himself photography to immortalize his work before it was cleaned up by authorities. It wasn’t long before he realized he wanted to show more than just the defacement of public structures. His photographs elevate graffiti into a sophisticated visual language that thrills both because of its illicit nature and aesthetic value.

Nils Müller