Scene of Crime provides an unprecedented viewpoint on subway graffiti through images and documents produced by the Toronto Transit Commission’s security personnel. This book unveils a hidden institutional archive filled with incident reports and evidentiary photographs, offering a rare glimpse into the intersection of graffiti, law enforcement, and bureaucracy. Challenging conventional understandings of graffiti’s ephemerality, it reveals how photographs and texts extend graffiti’s lifespan while highlighting the complex dynamics between graffiti writers and the authorities who pursue them. Featuring essays by Jamie Jelinski, Causr, Euroboi, and Liv, the book gives fresh insights into the broader implications of transit graffiti and the evidence produced by those who investigate it.

Scene of Crime is published in Montreal by terminalº.

Reviews

“The Toronto Transit Commission have unknowingly jump started a new generation of vandals by releasing these images to the public.” Roger Gastman, curator and historian

“Scene of Crime reveals the unintended conservators of graffiti, showcasing a unique perspective on the preservation of graffiti on mass transit through the lens of surveillance and reports.” Phil America, artist and author of Our Side of the Tracks

“A groundbreaking, richly illustrated look at graffiti and the systems which struggle to understand it. In their efforts to describe graffiti, the Toronto Transit Commission’s ‘Incident Reports’ collected here are like art gallery catalogue entries from an alternate world.” Will Straw, Emeritus Professor of Urban Media Studies, McGill University

Order

Available for pre-order on December 30, 2024. Click here to order.