Alexandre Farto aka Vhils was born in Lisbon in 1987 and is considered a contemporary "urban archaeologist". He has developed a unique visual language based on the removal of surface layers from walls and other media using unconventional tools and techniques.
Having grown up in an industrial suburb of Lisbon, he was strongly influenced by the urbanisation that took place there in the 1980s and 90s. He was fascinated by how these changes affected the structure of the urban landscape. This inspired him to draw parallels with the principles of New Realism and the psychogeography of Situationism.
In the early 2000s, he began interacting with the urban environment through the practice of graffiti: at the age of thirteen, he started leaving his "tags" and "stencils" in streets and on trains. He later studied at the Byam Shaw School of Art in London, where he developed his unique style: he removed the upper layers of walls with unconventional tools, creating portraits of a special kind.
