Pixação is all about visibility, a visibility chased by the fully dedicated and fearless.

*Rapel*
**Elevado Presidente João Goulart**
**Portra 800**

The year is 2018, and for the first time, I was traveling outside of Europe. Prior to this trip, I had no expectations—just pure curiosity to see what Brazil had to offer.

I landed in São Paulo, hopped in a car, and headed straight where I was supposed to be staying. My very first impression? Well, it certainly felt like stepping into an entirely different world. The air, the heat, the sheer scale of São Paulo—everything was completely different, unlike anything I’d experienced before.

Ten minutes into the drive, I started noticing the amount of graffiti spread all over. I’d previously heard that this city was “full of graffiti,” but based on what I was seeing, “full” was an understatement. The city was covered from top to bottom. Murals, throw-ups, tags, burners, stickers, stencils… you name it.

However, there was a distinctive calligraphy that caught my eye—one uncommon to anything I’d witnessed in Europe. A calligraphy that I would later learn the Paulistanos call: pixação.

*Escalada*
**República**
**Fomapan 200**

Pichação originated in the 60s as a form of resistance. Messages, inspired by the counter movements, were used as means for protesting against the military dictatorship the country faced for nearly 30 years. Fast forward to the 80s, the term evolved into “pixação,” derived from “pixo,” meaning “tar.” The gruesome aesthetics was heavily inspired by the Scandinavian and Gothic-style runic typefaces used by heavy metal bands in the late 70s and 80s. Pixadores adopted these lettering styles and reinvented them into a form that is uniquely ‘paulista,’ thereby becoming the underground ‘signature of the city.

In order to understand why young paulistanos or ‘pixadores’ are scarring the skyline of SP, we need to go back and dig into the history of the city.

In the 40s and 50s, elite reformers hopped on the idea that São Paulo needed a new modern and cosmopolitan image. This modernization was influenced by international trends, including wide avenues, massive urban parks, and modernist skyscrapers contributing to a vertical expansion similar to New York City. Such construction reforms required the demolition of many downtown buildings inhabited by working-class Afro-Brazilian communities, pushing them to the peripheries of the city. The same people who were once displaced from their homes were now using pixação as a tool to express their anger and frustration with the social injustice and uneven urbanization.

These buildings, once built for the elite, were now being marked by young pixadores from the peripheries of São Paulo. Their anger should be understood in the context of this pattern of uneven urban development. Pixo is a protest—pixo is the voice of the neglected, oppressed, and unheard. The gruesome aesthetics of pixação was heavily influenced by the Scandinavian and Gothic-style runic typefaces used by heavy metal bands in the late 70s and 80s. Pixadores adopted these lettering styles and reinvented them into a form that is uniquely “paulista,”. Something I like to call “the signature of the city”.

*Rapel*
**Av. São João**
**Fomapan 200**

Pixacao has many forms. Some prefer to stay low, and tag easily accessible spots. The risk is low, and the spot competition can be ruthless. You also have the pixadores who rapel down buildings, and tag using rollers and latex paint. The risk is higher, and the visibility guaranteed. The most extreme form of pixo is ‘escalada’ (“climbing”), for which success is measured in terms of height. Usually in teams of two – pixadores climb a building’s facade by grabbing on to its window ledges and pulling themselves up, floor by floor, leaving their mark as they go up.

When I moved to Brazil in 2022, I rediscovered my passion for photography. I realized that this is something I want to continue pursuing, and these images mark the beginning of my journey. Pixação was—and still is—the driving force that pushes me to go out and shoot.

Pixação - how a criptic caligraphy became the signature of são paulo

photographing old & gritty nyc. Parallels Between Matt Weber’s Photography & Scorcese’s ‘Taxi Driver’.

são paulo in motion: 12 photographs depicting the dynamic of south america’s megacity.