An interactive map for exploring street art by neighbourhood, recognisable locations and photographs — part of the archival work of Grafit.mk and Arno.mk.
Under bridges, beside railway tracks, on electricity substations, façades and neighbourhood passageways, Skopje has a visual life we often notice only in passing. A tag we have seen in many places, a message or a mural that has served as a landmark for years. Then another piece appears on the wall, or it is painted over, the building is demolished and a new wall takes its place. The “Skopje Graffiti Map” gathers these traces and connects them with the places where they were documented.
The project grew out of the ongoing photography, research and sharing in the Grafit.mk group, as well as Arno.mk’s graffiti stories. To be clear, the map shows only a small part of that material. The group contains many more photographs, but they have not all been mapped. It offers a way to explore part of the archive spatially, find a particular wall and connect the photographs with the surrounding neighbourhood, street or building.
You can begin with a familiar neighbourhood or a place you would like to get to know better. Aerodrom, Bunjakovec, Debar Maalo, Kapishtec, Novo Lisiche, Ostrovo, Taftalidze and the other areas are listed alphabetically. Clicking a name opens a list of mapped entries, and selecting an individual entry displays its location, photographs and any available description.
The archive’s value becomes especially clear when a piece of graffiti disappears. A photograph preserves its condition at a particular moment, along with neighbouring signatures, the wall’s surface and the surroundings. The work may already have been painted over or the space altered, but the record remains as evidence of what was there. Photographing graffiti thus also documents changes in the city itself.
The map will continue to grow with photographs, locations and verified information. If you recognise a signature, know more about a place, spot an incorrectly marked location or have an older photograph, share the information in Grafit.mk. Contributions from graffiti writers, photographers and people who remember these spaces help make the archive more accurate and richer.
Open the “Skopje Graffiti Map” and explore Skopje through its walls.