Vhils draws on the notion of the non-place
elaborated by Marc Augé to think through these spaces of circulation that are
the metro and the train. Sites of transit, with no fixed identity nor history
of their own, they nonetheless organise the daily experience of millions of
people. Vhils's gesture interrogates this paradox: how can a space deemed
anonymous accumulate so many human traces, so many strata of presence? Layers
of torn and carved paper create a visual narrative revealing faces and
fragmented forms that emerge from the chaotic texture of urban posters. This
composition illustrates Vhils's emblematic technique of meticulously
'sculpting' and removing layers of paper to expose the underlying colours and
images, creating portraits that seem to materialise from the very fabric of the
city. The central figure, a bearded man whose gaze is turned upwards, is
rendered with striking clarity amid the surrounding abstraction. Other partial
figures and abstract motifs suggest a crowd or a lively environment, evoking
the anonymity and collective energy of urban existence.