Lisbon, Portugal
Alexandre Farto (Vhils) is a Portuguese street artist internationally recognized for his distinctive technique of carving portraits directly into urban surfaces. Using tools such as drills, chisels, and jackhammers, he removes layers of walls to reveal embedded textures, effectively transforming decaying or overlooked urban environments into large-scale sculptural works.
Rather than adding paint to a surface, his practice is defined by subtraction—removing material to expose the hidden history of a place. The resulting works often depict anonymous individuals as well as cultural figures, emphasizing themes of identity, memory, and urban transformation.
While street art is typically considered ephemeral, Vhils’ practice pushes this transience even further. Many of his works are created on abandoned buildings, demolition sites, or temporary exhibition walls, meaning that a significant portion of his output has already disappeared due to urban change, redevelopment, or intentional removal.
This catalog reconstruction is partially based on documented photographic archives and editorial coverage of his works.
Vhils emerged from the Lisbon graffiti scene and has since developed a globally recognized practice that spans street interventions, gallery installations, and large-scale public commissions.
Key themes in his work include:
His works have been documented across multiple cities, including:
Primary visual and descriptive reference material used in reconstructing this dataset includes:
CBS News - Street Artist Vhils Gallery
This CBS News photographic feature provided key documentation of Vhils’ works across multiple cities, including contextual descriptions and location references used to reconstruct parts of this catalog.
Special acknowledgment to CBS News for the archival visual documentation that made this reconstruction possible.
In 2022 Vhils did a AMA (ask me anything) on reddit. The post can still be found here.
Faces sculpted by Vhils on Rua dos Lagares in Mouraria, part of his urban portrait series.
Good condition
Portrait of Amália Rodrigues created by Vhils in Lisbon as a tribute to Portuguese culture, using a carved mosaic technique integrated into the street surface.
Good condition
2014 Vhils mural from the 'Dissecção' exhibition, exploring urban memory and decay through a carved portrait on an industrial façade. The site was later demolished and redeveloped, now home to new buildings including the Cloudflare and Galp offices.
Removed
Site-specific carved mural created by Vhils for the Phytology Project in Bethnal Green Nature Reserve, London. The work explores the relationship between urban decay and natural regeneration through his signature technique of removing layers from built surfaces to reveal hidden imagery.
Condition unknown
Large-scale carved portrait of Australian activist Jack Mundey, created by Vhils for the 'Scratching the Surface' project in The Rocks, Sydney. The work reflects Mundey’s role in urban preservation movements, rendered through Vhils’ signature subtractive carving technique on an urban wall surface.
Good condition
Monumental mural created by Vhils for the All City Canvas Festival in Mexico City, featuring his characteristic subtractive portrait technique. The work reflects his global exploration of urban identity, layering, and the erosion of city surfaces as cultural memory.
Condition unknown
Large-scale Vhils mural created in Moscow as part of his early international interventions, using his subtractive carving technique to explore urban identity and the layered histories embedded in city surfaces.
Condition unknown
Large-scale underground mural created by Vhils in Tunnel 228, London, as part of an early wave of his experimental street interventions. The piece formed part of a broader transformation of the tunnel into a temporary open-air gallery for street artists.
Condition unknown
Early stencil-based work created by Vhils for the Cans Festival in Leake Street Tunnel, London, curated by Banksy. The piece was part of a collective underground street art intervention that transformed the tunnel into a temporary graffiti gallery before being progressively painted over and replaced.
Destroyed
Industrial site intervention by Vhils in Barreiro, near Lisbon, where he carved a large-scale portrait into an abandoned or repurposed urban surface. The work reflects themes of industrial decay, memory, and transformation of post-industrial landscapes.
Condition unknown
Public intervention by Vhils in Lisbon depicting an aged human face carved into an urban wall, exploring themes of time, erosion, and collective memory within the city's evolving landscape.
Condition unknown
Select a pin to see the details here.
Vhils' festival returns to a four day format from 17 to 20 September, in the old Escola Industrial Afonso Domingues in Marvila, with more than a hundred things on.
Are you an artist or organizing events?
Join BeThereGo.com and reach people looking for culture around the world.
Click here for more information.
(alpha)
